With the 15 minutes thing on permanent hiatus, I figured we needed something else to bring us closer together. So, in that spirit, I contacted Darth about a poster on poster interview, and he accepted. This is what we got out of it.
Darthphere's Answers:
Drakon's Answers
Here's hoping you enjoy it. And if it takes off, then we might do this more often.
Darthphere's Answers:
Drak: Why did you choose the name "Darthphere" ?
Darthphere: I've been using the name Darthphere ever since AIM was the cool thing to do. Frankly, the name selection was stupid. I liked Star Wars, but I didn't want to be Chewbacca420, so I decided on Darth Fear and decided that looked stupid so went with Darthphere, irony knows no bounds.
Drak: What originally brought you to SHH so many years ago, and what made you decide to register and start posting?
Darthphere: Well it was X2 actually. I was searching for X-Men stuff, having recently gotten back into comics and found the Hype via Yahoo Search. The comics forum had cool cats like TheCorpulent1 and Guyverjay back then so I registered and the rest is history. Also, he had a crap load of comic book scans.
Drak: What movies have come out since then, have you followed on SHH?
Darthphere: Comic book movies? Well, I tend to shy away from movie specific forums, so nothing really. When I first started, I posted a lot in the X-Men forum. Mostly talking about the movies, and I was there for X3.
Drak: Right on. What comics are you currently reading? Any arcs in specific you following?
Darthphere: Well it's sad to report that I had to drop comics due to financial reasons. I still follow them through the comics forum and random issues I'll read from time to time. The only titles I still follow are through TPBs like Ex
Machina, DMZ, Northlanders and pretty much anything that BKV decides to write.I suggest that all comic book fans visit Rich Johnston's new site and read the article about one of Marvel's Executives pretty much saying that their trying to rip you off with their price hikes. It's really a good read and should piss of all fans.
Drak: So, I know Civil War is old news, but I still have to ask. Who's side were you on, and why?
Darthphere: Ultimately Captain America because, well he was Captain America. To be fair, the SHRA made sense, it was just handled poorly. Both sides we're wrong in their actions, but that had more to do with Mark Millar being an overhyped writer than anything. But on anything, you need to stand with Cap.
Drak: Coolest comic duds?
Darthphere: I like slick, elegant looking costumes. One costume I have always liked is some of the later Havok costumes. Without that stupid thing on his head.
Drak: Dew's gonna kill you for that.
Darthphere: Even Dew has to admit that he looks stupid with that thing on his head. Allow me to provide visual reference
Drak: Fire away. Not that you need to, of course. Cause, well, it's common
knowledge.
Darthphere: This is awesome:
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/1/11768/644186-havok_large.jpg
Darthphere: Not awesome:
http://www.marveldirectory.com/pictures/individuals/h_1d/havok.gif
Drak: Noted. Any special current superhero TV shows you follow now, like
"Spectacular Spider-Man"? And what about some of the classics?
Darthphere: No, I can't get into the animated styles. Wolverine and the X-Men looked cool but I never caught it. Classics wise, I have Justice League/JLU, Batman: TAS on DVD. They never get old. I look forward to showing my kids these shows instead of Yo Gabba Gabba or whatever.
Drak: No Spider-Man, though?
Darthphere: About Spider-Man, I've made this no secret. I'm not a huge fan. I think he gets all this love for being relateable and such, but I could never buy that some nerdy kid was banging a hot blonde and eventually marries a hot red head model. And yes, they married, no matter what Joe Quesada says and does.
Drak: Moving away from comics a bit. What do you think about some of the fads these kids today have, like shoes with the rollerskates in them?
Darthphere: I don't have a problem with the shoes with rollerskates, I have a problem with the skating with them in the mall. I think gets get to do too much crap without having to face consequences. Also, I went to the movies and saw two 12 year old kids with iPhones. That is disgusting to me, not only because I'm jealous, because those kids will grow up to beat up their moms over french fries.
Drak: So you think them spoiled?
Darthphere: Yes, indeed. It all stems from all this fake child abuse claims. My parents would whoop me good, and for the most part I'm a well behaved young man.
Drak: I can dig. What other hobbies keep your time busy?
Darthphere: Video games are huge for me, I'm also a huge movie buff. Not like a Movies205 type guy where every movie has to be Schindler's List. I can appreciate a movie for what it's worth. Also, I love reading and seeing new technology and gadgets out there. Even though I'll never own most of them.
Drak: What games are you currently playing, and for what platforms?
Darthphere: Well, I own a 360 so I play a lot of Call of Duty and NBA 2K8, mostly because it's too late to buy 2K9. Other than that, this summer will be pretty big for games. Looking forward to Ghostbusters above anything else. It looks pretty amazing, I just hope it doesn't disappoint. Oh! and Wolfenstein. I used to play Return to Castle Wolfenstein for ages on PC.
Drak: What do you think about the upcoming "Batman:Arkham Asylum" ?
Darthphere: The games looks pretty good IMO, it might be the best looking Batman game ever but it looks too linear. I think video game developers need to get with the program and create the GTA style Batman game that we all want. Just like Spider-Man as well. Free-roaming, big cities, sandbox style of play. Arkham Asylum is not going to come out anytime soon anyway.
Drak: Yeah, it's been pushed by twice now. I think they're looking at Late August.
Darthphere: I think the whole Square Enix deal is the reason for the delay. Most video game reviewers said the game was pretty much good to go.
Drak: Onto more SHH based things: Which banned posters do you miss reading from?
Darthphere: You know, as much as I hate admitting it, Wilhelm-Scream. He was codescending, arrogant and a jerk, but I respected him and he had a way with words. He made things interesting.
Drak: What about users who just left?
Darthphere: Jaguarr. I really miss Jag. I don't know the specifics on why he left but we need more guys like him. We were Community Co-Posters of the Year for 2006 you know.
Drak: I do know. What new posters, or posters making themselves more known in the community, do you think have the chutzpah to be as awesome as you and Jag?
Darthphere: Well that's impossible. But I gotta say that Eggyman and Knowsbleed are really coming into their own. I think they can be elite posters one day as long as they don't go crazy and post nun porn.
Drak: Or another bowl of wangs.
Darthphere: Or that nasty sausage thing some fool posted on one of our ComingSoon.net exodus.
Drak: If you had your own smiley, what would it be? What about if you could add one yourself?
Darthphere: A Jaime Madrox smiley. I mean come on we have a Picard facepalm smiley but no Multiple Man? Terrible. As for my own, I don't know, maybe an ass with a hat on it.
Drak: Name five users you would like to leave on an island and have them fight to the death.
Darthphere: Hmmmm, Silverstein, Thor-Odinson, Spawn, Excel, and Morg.
Drak: What was the biggest hit and miss of the movie season thusfar?
Darthphere: Biggest hit was Star Trek. It was just so good. Biggest miss,
Terminator Salvation. So much wasted potential there.
Drak: What didn't you like about Salvation?
Darthphere: I was expecting a full blown war movie with humans and robots
fighting, laser guns, hover crafts. Nothing, we just got a dump complicated for no reason plot and a main character in Marcus which is utterly irrelevant.
Drak: Pine was in Star Trek, and Worthington was in Salvation, and they're fan faves for Green Lantern. What do you think about those?
Darthphere: I don't like either for GL. Worthington really has shown me nothing as an actor and Pine is stunt casting at its finest.
Darthphere: I've been using the name Darthphere ever since AIM was the cool thing to do. Frankly, the name selection was stupid. I liked Star Wars, but I didn't want to be Chewbacca420, so I decided on Darth Fear and decided that looked stupid so went with Darthphere, irony knows no bounds.
Drak: What originally brought you to SHH so many years ago, and what made you decide to register and start posting?
Darthphere: Well it was X2 actually. I was searching for X-Men stuff, having recently gotten back into comics and found the Hype via Yahoo Search. The comics forum had cool cats like TheCorpulent1 and Guyverjay back then so I registered and the rest is history. Also, he had a crap load of comic book scans.
Drak: What movies have come out since then, have you followed on SHH?
Darthphere: Comic book movies? Well, I tend to shy away from movie specific forums, so nothing really. When I first started, I posted a lot in the X-Men forum. Mostly talking about the movies, and I was there for X3.
Drak: Right on. What comics are you currently reading? Any arcs in specific you following?
Darthphere: Well it's sad to report that I had to drop comics due to financial reasons. I still follow them through the comics forum and random issues I'll read from time to time. The only titles I still follow are through TPBs like Ex
Machina, DMZ, Northlanders and pretty much anything that BKV decides to write.I suggest that all comic book fans visit Rich Johnston's new site and read the article about one of Marvel's Executives pretty much saying that their trying to rip you off with their price hikes. It's really a good read and should piss of all fans.
Drak: So, I know Civil War is old news, but I still have to ask. Who's side were you on, and why?
Darthphere: Ultimately Captain America because, well he was Captain America. To be fair, the SHRA made sense, it was just handled poorly. Both sides we're wrong in their actions, but that had more to do with Mark Millar being an overhyped writer than anything. But on anything, you need to stand with Cap.
Drak: Coolest comic duds?
Darthphere: I like slick, elegant looking costumes. One costume I have always liked is some of the later Havok costumes. Without that stupid thing on his head.
Drak: Dew's gonna kill you for that.
Darthphere: Even Dew has to admit that he looks stupid with that thing on his head. Allow me to provide visual reference
Drak: Fire away. Not that you need to, of course. Cause, well, it's common
knowledge.
Darthphere: This is awesome:
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/1/11768/644186-havok_large.jpg
Darthphere: Not awesome:
http://www.marveldirectory.com/pictures/individuals/h_1d/havok.gif
Drak: Noted. Any special current superhero TV shows you follow now, like
"Spectacular Spider-Man"? And what about some of the classics?
Darthphere: No, I can't get into the animated styles. Wolverine and the X-Men looked cool but I never caught it. Classics wise, I have Justice League/JLU, Batman: TAS on DVD. They never get old. I look forward to showing my kids these shows instead of Yo Gabba Gabba or whatever.
Drak: No Spider-Man, though?
Darthphere: About Spider-Man, I've made this no secret. I'm not a huge fan. I think he gets all this love for being relateable and such, but I could never buy that some nerdy kid was banging a hot blonde and eventually marries a hot red head model. And yes, they married, no matter what Joe Quesada says and does.
Drak: Moving away from comics a bit. What do you think about some of the fads these kids today have, like shoes with the rollerskates in them?
Darthphere: I don't have a problem with the shoes with rollerskates, I have a problem with the skating with them in the mall. I think gets get to do too much crap without having to face consequences. Also, I went to the movies and saw two 12 year old kids with iPhones. That is disgusting to me, not only because I'm jealous, because those kids will grow up to beat up their moms over french fries.
Drak: So you think them spoiled?
Darthphere: Yes, indeed. It all stems from all this fake child abuse claims. My parents would whoop me good, and for the most part I'm a well behaved young man.
Drak: I can dig. What other hobbies keep your time busy?
Darthphere: Video games are huge for me, I'm also a huge movie buff. Not like a Movies205 type guy where every movie has to be Schindler's List. I can appreciate a movie for what it's worth. Also, I love reading and seeing new technology and gadgets out there. Even though I'll never own most of them.
Drak: What games are you currently playing, and for what platforms?
Darthphere: Well, I own a 360 so I play a lot of Call of Duty and NBA 2K8, mostly because it's too late to buy 2K9. Other than that, this summer will be pretty big for games. Looking forward to Ghostbusters above anything else. It looks pretty amazing, I just hope it doesn't disappoint. Oh! and Wolfenstein. I used to play Return to Castle Wolfenstein for ages on PC.
Drak: What do you think about the upcoming "Batman:Arkham Asylum" ?
Darthphere: The games looks pretty good IMO, it might be the best looking Batman game ever but it looks too linear. I think video game developers need to get with the program and create the GTA style Batman game that we all want. Just like Spider-Man as well. Free-roaming, big cities, sandbox style of play. Arkham Asylum is not going to come out anytime soon anyway.
Drak: Yeah, it's been pushed by twice now. I think they're looking at Late August.
Darthphere: I think the whole Square Enix deal is the reason for the delay. Most video game reviewers said the game was pretty much good to go.
Drak: Onto more SHH based things: Which banned posters do you miss reading from?
Darthphere: You know, as much as I hate admitting it, Wilhelm-Scream. He was codescending, arrogant and a jerk, but I respected him and he had a way with words. He made things interesting.
Drak: What about users who just left?
Darthphere: Jaguarr. I really miss Jag. I don't know the specifics on why he left but we need more guys like him. We were Community Co-Posters of the Year for 2006 you know.
Drak: I do know. What new posters, or posters making themselves more known in the community, do you think have the chutzpah to be as awesome as you and Jag?
Darthphere: Well that's impossible. But I gotta say that Eggyman and Knowsbleed are really coming into their own. I think they can be elite posters one day as long as they don't go crazy and post nun porn.
Drak: Or another bowl of wangs.
Darthphere: Or that nasty sausage thing some fool posted on one of our ComingSoon.net exodus.
Drak: If you had your own smiley, what would it be? What about if you could add one yourself?
Darthphere: A Jaime Madrox smiley. I mean come on we have a Picard facepalm smiley but no Multiple Man? Terrible. As for my own, I don't know, maybe an ass with a hat on it.
Drak: Name five users you would like to leave on an island and have them fight to the death.
Darthphere: Hmmmm, Silverstein, Thor-Odinson, Spawn, Excel, and Morg.
Drak: What was the biggest hit and miss of the movie season thusfar?
Darthphere: Biggest hit was Star Trek. It was just so good. Biggest miss,
Terminator Salvation. So much wasted potential there.
Drak: What didn't you like about Salvation?
Darthphere: I was expecting a full blown war movie with humans and robots
fighting, laser guns, hover crafts. Nothing, we just got a dump complicated for no reason plot and a main character in Marcus which is utterly irrelevant.
Drak: Pine was in Star Trek, and Worthington was in Salvation, and they're fan faves for Green Lantern. What do you think about those?
Darthphere: I don't like either for GL. Worthington really has shown me nothing as an actor and Pine is stunt casting at its finest.
Drakon's Answers
Darthphere: Well let me ask you, Drakon, what's up with that name? I always think of Drakon in reference to a Green Arrow villain, but I have a feeling I'm wrong on this one.
Drak: Not entirely wrong. I actually used the moniker "Drakon" in a lot of Roleplaying, like D&D. I derived the name from "Drake", who is the hero from the Opera Scene of Final Fantasy VI. I ended up later realizing that he was a GA villian when I was leafing through some comics my uncle gave me, and it just reinforced the awesome. Some people have thought that I was even based off that character from Kim Possible, and aside from having the hots for the chick who voiced Kim, I really had no idea what went on with the show.
Darthphere: You pretty much have risen to the highest rank attainable on the Hype without actually owning it. How did your journey begin? How did Drakon beging his takeover of the Hype?
Drak: Well, I started coming to the site back in 2000, in the days of "Spider-Man Hype!", back when everything was hella old school. I didn't post, because I was in school, messing around online instead of paying attention in band class, but come 2003, and I ended up moving to Ohio and registering for SHH within the same week.Back to earlier, though....I started hanging out in the different forums [Community, some of the Spider-Forums, and Fan Art mostly], and started talking to people like Dew, Joe Freefall, Scarlet Spidey, and the like. At the time I had no real idea how the hierarchy was on a forum, since it was my first, but I found out that Dew and later Joe was a staffer. I ended up going to them when I saw rules being broken, or something questionable.
Darthphere: Ah Joey Freefall, master avatar maker if I recall, so you got in with the cool kids to put it simply?
Drak: I wouldn't be so black and white about it, but yes. I honestly couldn't think of anyone who's called for my head, so to speak, so I guess I must be doing something right. I eventually got my promotion to global mod around May 2005. It was at this time that I also started really getting into web development and design, and I started learning HTML and some CSS. Come a few years later, and Malice has a lot of personal problems and kinda disappears. Yet we still needed someone to handle some of the tech stuff, and since I knew a lot of it, I volunteered, and got the admin spot.
Darthphere: What was it about Ohio that prompted you to join the madhouse? Boredom or were you enthralled by the history Cleveland has in relation to comics and their creators?
Drak: Honestly, it was just a personal shift. I happened to have a chance to get out of where I was, and move to Cincinnati, and I took it. I lived there for almost six years, and never really went up to Cleveland, save traveling through via Greyhound.
Darthphere: So you're not the only admin, what exactly does an Admin do that's different from a mod?
Drak: Do you mean in terms of day to day modding, or just in general?
Darthphere: In general, to me it seems like an Admin is just a higher level mod.
Drak: Well, the short answer to that is that you're right. Let's use Morg as an example. If you saw him doing something that obviously was against the rules, or just something that shouldn't be done, you would come to us, since we rank higher, and we'd mod him. Sometimes, it's not such a big deal, but I can think of a few times where it has been [not just with Morg, but with some of the staffers in general].
To elaborate a bit more: We have the abilities we stated above, as well as a few powers granted by the forum software, and Mirko himself. Adding smileys, for example. Granted, none of us, save Malice, have any access to some of the more super-sensitive stuff [such as the FTP, and board files], but we can set things up like new forums, and usergroups, and change permissions for different groups no sweat.
Darthphere: So I guess the next question would be, what does a mod do to become an admin?
Drak: Well, there's really no set rule. Hunter, Cmill and Doggy were all promoted when Mal, Dew, and Myself all had some personal issues going on [I was going through a particularly rough breakup at the time]. I think they just offered themselves and got the boost.
Darthphere: I won't make you relive that breakup but will get personal. As we all know, you're minus one limb. Some however don't know the background story on it. Care to share?
Drak: Well, in short, I'm missing my right leg thanks to a birth defect. Though, I tend to have fun with people. Depending on my mood, I lost it: via a shark attack, car accident saving a kid, croc wrestling, nasty case of gangrene, shattering it by jumping off a building, pyrotechnics malfunction, or even just a bear trap.
Darthphere: I would've gone with grenade in Nam.
Drak: I say that one, too. Or that I lost it in the Civil War. But since I now work on a military post, I try to steer clear of those jokes.
Darthphere: So other then being a huge tech nerd what do you do for fun?
Drak: Aside from comics, I've been an avid video gamer since I was 7, so I always do what I can do with that. I've an on again/off again relationship with World of Warcraft, and I'm anxious as hell to try Champions. Though my true gaming love comes from old school RPGs and Fighting games, particularly Street Fighter. As the old saying goes, "My friends call me Hadouken, because I'm down-right-fierce." Kinda ironic, considering I usually play Guile, with Ken being a distant second. I also play D&D [or other tabletop games] and Magic whenever the opprotunity arises. Other than that, I am a bit of a movie buff/snob, and I play some music. I'm nowhere near as good as I once was, but given the right motivation, I am always happy to pick it up and play again.
Darthphere: You're telling me you roll the 20 sided dice (die?)
Drak: Not only that, but I crit, and hit the crit, so I do an extra 2d10.
Darthphere: Do you dress up like an elf and all that?
Drak: Nah, I don't go that far, but I do use a different tone and voice when in character sometimes, depending on what style of character I play.
Darthphere: So the summer movie season is well on it's way, what are your thoughts so far?
Drak: A couple head turners, but nothing really stands out to me yet. I mean, sure, there's one or two, but overall at this point, all the good stuff has come and gone.
Darthphere: What's been good so far? What has sucked major balls in your opinion?
Drak: Star Trek was great. And I think I'm the only person who was able to look past the comics and enjoy Wolverine.
Darthphere: Wow, Wolverine? I need you to elaborate.
Drak: Okay. SPOILER ALERT:
[blackout]Drak: Yes, in the comics, Victor and Logan weren't brothers. Deadpool doesn't have claws or eye lasers. But so what? [/blackout]
Drak: Within the movie itself, how they presented Deadpool, it made sense.
Darthphere: Hmmm, can't say I agree. I don't think a lot of the movie made sense, especially scenes like Wolverine with Jonathan and Martha Kent
Drak: That, I can agree with.
Drak: But in the end, at least I didn't want to walk out.
Darthphere: But hell yes on Star Trek. What a wonderful surprise, probably my favorite movie so far this summer.
Drak: Same. I was kinda iffy on it, but damn. Even though it was more action that I was expecting. And Uhura was damned hot.
Darthphere: We can dissect Transformers all day long but at the end of the day, people were entertained. I was entertained. So what can you do? Do you believe The Dark Knight has changed the face of summer blockbusters forever?
Drak: Er, kinda sorta. It really kinda re-energized comic films, which in my opinion was much needed, thanks largely to not using the full power of the studio. When making a movie based on another IP, you are always appealing to 3 different demographics: IP fans, Movie Fans, and Actor Fans. So to not cover something that the fans would know, but not the other groups by omitting a two sentance explanation is really film school. As for non-comic films, maybe. It's a little soon to see if it's true for the rest of the genre [read:action]. I mean, look at Crank 2.
Darthphere: But do you think movie goers are looking for more than just plain dumb, turn off your brain movies like the summers of the past?
Drak: Jesus Christ I hope so. Don't get me wrong--I like to occasionally watch dumb ****: you should see my movie collection. But seriously.
Drak: Not entirely wrong. I actually used the moniker "Drakon" in a lot of Roleplaying, like D&D. I derived the name from "Drake", who is the hero from the Opera Scene of Final Fantasy VI. I ended up later realizing that he was a GA villian when I was leafing through some comics my uncle gave me, and it just reinforced the awesome. Some people have thought that I was even based off that character from Kim Possible, and aside from having the hots for the chick who voiced Kim, I really had no idea what went on with the show.
Darthphere: You pretty much have risen to the highest rank attainable on the Hype without actually owning it. How did your journey begin? How did Drakon beging his takeover of the Hype?
Drak: Well, I started coming to the site back in 2000, in the days of "Spider-Man Hype!", back when everything was hella old school. I didn't post, because I was in school, messing around online instead of paying attention in band class, but come 2003, and I ended up moving to Ohio and registering for SHH within the same week.Back to earlier, though....I started hanging out in the different forums [Community, some of the Spider-Forums, and Fan Art mostly], and started talking to people like Dew, Joe Freefall, Scarlet Spidey, and the like. At the time I had no real idea how the hierarchy was on a forum, since it was my first, but I found out that Dew and later Joe was a staffer. I ended up going to them when I saw rules being broken, or something questionable.
Darthphere: Ah Joey Freefall, master avatar maker if I recall, so you got in with the cool kids to put it simply?
Drak: I wouldn't be so black and white about it, but yes. I honestly couldn't think of anyone who's called for my head, so to speak, so I guess I must be doing something right. I eventually got my promotion to global mod around May 2005. It was at this time that I also started really getting into web development and design, and I started learning HTML and some CSS. Come a few years later, and Malice has a lot of personal problems and kinda disappears. Yet we still needed someone to handle some of the tech stuff, and since I knew a lot of it, I volunteered, and got the admin spot.
Darthphere: What was it about Ohio that prompted you to join the madhouse? Boredom or were you enthralled by the history Cleveland has in relation to comics and their creators?
Drak: Honestly, it was just a personal shift. I happened to have a chance to get out of where I was, and move to Cincinnati, and I took it. I lived there for almost six years, and never really went up to Cleveland, save traveling through via Greyhound.
Darthphere: So you're not the only admin, what exactly does an Admin do that's different from a mod?
Drak: Do you mean in terms of day to day modding, or just in general?
Darthphere: In general, to me it seems like an Admin is just a higher level mod.
Drak: Well, the short answer to that is that you're right. Let's use Morg as an example. If you saw him doing something that obviously was against the rules, or just something that shouldn't be done, you would come to us, since we rank higher, and we'd mod him. Sometimes, it's not such a big deal, but I can think of a few times where it has been [not just with Morg, but with some of the staffers in general].
To elaborate a bit more: We have the abilities we stated above, as well as a few powers granted by the forum software, and Mirko himself. Adding smileys, for example. Granted, none of us, save Malice, have any access to some of the more super-sensitive stuff [such as the FTP, and board files], but we can set things up like new forums, and usergroups, and change permissions for different groups no sweat.
Darthphere: So I guess the next question would be, what does a mod do to become an admin?
Drak: Well, there's really no set rule. Hunter, Cmill and Doggy were all promoted when Mal, Dew, and Myself all had some personal issues going on [I was going through a particularly rough breakup at the time]. I think they just offered themselves and got the boost.
Darthphere: I won't make you relive that breakup but will get personal. As we all know, you're minus one limb. Some however don't know the background story on it. Care to share?
Drak: Well, in short, I'm missing my right leg thanks to a birth defect. Though, I tend to have fun with people. Depending on my mood, I lost it: via a shark attack, car accident saving a kid, croc wrestling, nasty case of gangrene, shattering it by jumping off a building, pyrotechnics malfunction, or even just a bear trap.
Darthphere: I would've gone with grenade in Nam.
Drak: I say that one, too. Or that I lost it in the Civil War. But since I now work on a military post, I try to steer clear of those jokes.
Darthphere: So other then being a huge tech nerd what do you do for fun?
Drak: Aside from comics, I've been an avid video gamer since I was 7, so I always do what I can do with that. I've an on again/off again relationship with World of Warcraft, and I'm anxious as hell to try Champions. Though my true gaming love comes from old school RPGs and Fighting games, particularly Street Fighter. As the old saying goes, "My friends call me Hadouken, because I'm down-right-fierce." Kinda ironic, considering I usually play Guile, with Ken being a distant second. I also play D&D [or other tabletop games] and Magic whenever the opprotunity arises. Other than that, I am a bit of a movie buff/snob, and I play some music. I'm nowhere near as good as I once was, but given the right motivation, I am always happy to pick it up and play again.
Darthphere: You're telling me you roll the 20 sided dice (die?)
Drak: Not only that, but I crit, and hit the crit, so I do an extra 2d10.
Darthphere: Do you dress up like an elf and all that?
Drak: Nah, I don't go that far, but I do use a different tone and voice when in character sometimes, depending on what style of character I play.
Darthphere: So the summer movie season is well on it's way, what are your thoughts so far?
Drak: A couple head turners, but nothing really stands out to me yet. I mean, sure, there's one or two, but overall at this point, all the good stuff has come and gone.
Darthphere: What's been good so far? What has sucked major balls in your opinion?
Drak: Star Trek was great. And I think I'm the only person who was able to look past the comics and enjoy Wolverine.
Darthphere: Wow, Wolverine? I need you to elaborate.
Drak: Okay. SPOILER ALERT:
[blackout]Drak: Yes, in the comics, Victor and Logan weren't brothers. Deadpool doesn't have claws or eye lasers. But so what? [/blackout]
Drak: Within the movie itself, how they presented Deadpool, it made sense.
Darthphere: Hmmm, can't say I agree. I don't think a lot of the movie made sense, especially scenes like Wolverine with Jonathan and Martha Kent
Drak: That, I can agree with.
Drak: But in the end, at least I didn't want to walk out.
Darthphere: But hell yes on Star Trek. What a wonderful surprise, probably my favorite movie so far this summer.
Drak: Same. I was kinda iffy on it, but damn. Even though it was more action that I was expecting. And Uhura was damned hot.
Darthphere: We can dissect Transformers all day long but at the end of the day, people were entertained. I was entertained. So what can you do? Do you believe The Dark Knight has changed the face of summer blockbusters forever?
Drak: Er, kinda sorta. It really kinda re-energized comic films, which in my opinion was much needed, thanks largely to not using the full power of the studio. When making a movie based on another IP, you are always appealing to 3 different demographics: IP fans, Movie Fans, and Actor Fans. So to not cover something that the fans would know, but not the other groups by omitting a two sentance explanation is really film school. As for non-comic films, maybe. It's a little soon to see if it's true for the rest of the genre [read:action]. I mean, look at Crank 2.
Darthphere: But do you think movie goers are looking for more than just plain dumb, turn off your brain movies like the summers of the past?
Drak: Jesus Christ I hope so. Don't get me wrong--I like to occasionally watch dumb ****: you should see my movie collection. But seriously.
Here's hoping you enjoy it. And if it takes off, then we might do this more often.
) when i first started lurking these boards and Freefall was one of the first "personalities" i came to recognize on the boards. 
