Post by Shun Minamoto on Nov 30, 2016 0:31:32 GMT -5
For my final act as the former Site Owner, I’ll be completing an ages-old promise to a good friend.
Let me tell you a little bit about this guy, okay? Up until 2014, I didn’t know him at all. This was a guy who had already managed to achieve Prestige, nonetheless. Hadn’t really spoken to him once. My first, grand act, then, was appropriate, I think.
“I'm gonna make you boldly go right into the trash can.”
I even gave him a generous gift.
Yes, that's right. The fresh-faced new main character of the then-Site Owner was going to challenge the Prestige character known as Tokiyo Fujikagi, to defend the largely inactive Captain of the Third. Do you know what this guy did?
He rolled with it so well that, when I presented to him an interesting scenario that should unfold if he lost, he was like, "This is what, I think, is the best and most believable outcome for my character."
That, really, is what separated Tokiyo Fujikagi from I. As is no mystery, I was quite partial to planning out every little detail, down to the minutiae, of my characters. Although I was still flexible when good opportunities came up, most everything I did and had done was completely on rails. For him to answer like that was something I could hardly fathom, really. There was flexibility, and then there was this total departure from his current ideas and plans!
If I was a compulsive planner, this guy was anything but, and it absolutely came to define him. He has a trait, so rare in most players, in that he's able to stay so furiously in character that things simply work out -- no matter the result -- in a great way. The character writes himself, really. It's this dedication to it, the single-minded devotion to simply staying true to Tokiyo Fujikagi, that brings us together today.
All of this started with a man who joined along with a fellow Wisconsin-ite friend who played the Arrancar Celeste. I remember the first thing I talked to him about, before my challenge, was a half-conversation about his fight with her in order to learn our mechanical setup. This was before the "Equivalent still does damage" rule change, resulting in their mechanics-only battle being a lot of "attack, block, attack, block," over and over.
Although I never admitted it at the time, seeing that made me seriously doubt his long-term potential as a member on Bleach Gotei. Regardless, I explained how important in-character circumstance is for giving life to our system. Although he seemed to understand, and was genuinely quite new, I had by doubts about this Patrick Stewart-using Shinigami in an animanga roleplay setting.
Since then, I have had to endure him -- without even realizing it! -- shoving my own unspoken words back down my throat; and doing it repeatedly.
He soared through in-character events, playing off of them masterfully, and getting involved with some of the big names at the time such as Hatred, Miki Sakamoto, and our beloved Kiriko Chinda. In no time at all he had a Bankai request on the board -- which I summarily denied -- only to come back sock me in the face with another one that I simply couldn't turn down.
That's when I started to doubt my own skepticism; but part of me persisted, "He'll probably burn out before Prestige, sadly."
Whoops.
No, Tokiyo had no intentions of burning out before anything. He put together a -- even by 2016 standards -- high-quality Prestige application. Before my own successor character was so much as a blip on anyone's radar, he was sporting a pink name, three releases, and an itch to wear a haori.
Looking back, I wondered how a player that started with me needing to explain some of the most basic ideas of our system had gotten so far, so quickly. On his very first attempt, he was creating a character that fell together so well that he seemed to write himself! I wouldn't see it for a very, very long time, but the answer was sitting right in front of me.
All he did was, with zero exceptions, play Tokiyo as he thought Tokiyo would act.
The result?
Without any set-in-stone planning, without even the slightest crack in the integrity of Tokiyo's character, he has created perhaps the most fully thought-out Transcendental in Bleach Gotei. In the past, I'd say this applied to Knowledge. As of today, I'd say that title has been stolen.
If you're new to us, or simply haven't followed the work of Tokiyo Fujikagi until now, I implore you: Do. I once said that he was "the best part of 2013," as it related to Bleach Gotei. This, I believe, shines through as more true than ever. Bleach Gotei, for his writing and his stern dedication to the community as its successor owner, is truly lucky to have him.
We all have a lot we could learn from his example and, although I've never said it to him before, I know I have already. Thank you for choosing to spend your time and words with us all.
So it is with genuine honor that I'm finally able to bestow a well-earned distinction, and to make an introduction a long time coming.
Congratulations, Consequence!
You are the eighth Transcendental!
Let me tell you a little bit about this guy, okay? Up until 2014, I didn’t know him at all. This was a guy who had already managed to achieve Prestige, nonetheless. Hadn’t really spoken to him once. My first, grand act, then, was appropriate, I think.
“I'm gonna make you boldly go right into the trash can.”
I even gave him a generous gift.
Yes, that's right. The fresh-faced new main character of the then-Site Owner was going to challenge the Prestige character known as Tokiyo Fujikagi, to defend the largely inactive Captain of the Third. Do you know what this guy did?
He rolled with it so well that, when I presented to him an interesting scenario that should unfold if he lost, he was like, "This is what, I think, is the best and most believable outcome for my character."
That, really, is what separated Tokiyo Fujikagi from I. As is no mystery, I was quite partial to planning out every little detail, down to the minutiae, of my characters. Although I was still flexible when good opportunities came up, most everything I did and had done was completely on rails. For him to answer like that was something I could hardly fathom, really. There was flexibility, and then there was this total departure from his current ideas and plans!
If I was a compulsive planner, this guy was anything but, and it absolutely came to define him. He has a trait, so rare in most players, in that he's able to stay so furiously in character that things simply work out -- no matter the result -- in a great way. The character writes himself, really. It's this dedication to it, the single-minded devotion to simply staying true to Tokiyo Fujikagi, that brings us together today.
All of this started with a man who joined along with a fellow Wisconsin-ite friend who played the Arrancar Celeste. I remember the first thing I talked to him about, before my challenge, was a half-conversation about his fight with her in order to learn our mechanical setup. This was before the "Equivalent still does damage" rule change, resulting in their mechanics-only battle being a lot of "attack, block, attack, block," over and over.
Although I never admitted it at the time, seeing that made me seriously doubt his long-term potential as a member on Bleach Gotei. Regardless, I explained how important in-character circumstance is for giving life to our system. Although he seemed to understand, and was genuinely quite new, I had by doubts about this Patrick Stewart-using Shinigami in an animanga roleplay setting.
Since then, I have had to endure him -- without even realizing it! -- shoving my own unspoken words back down my throat; and doing it repeatedly.
He soared through in-character events, playing off of them masterfully, and getting involved with some of the big names at the time such as Hatred, Miki Sakamoto, and our beloved Kiriko Chinda. In no time at all he had a Bankai request on the board -- which I summarily denied -- only to come back sock me in the face with another one that I simply couldn't turn down.
That's when I started to doubt my own skepticism; but part of me persisted, "He'll probably burn out before Prestige, sadly."
Whoops.
No, Tokiyo had no intentions of burning out before anything. He put together a -- even by 2016 standards -- high-quality Prestige application. Before my own successor character was so much as a blip on anyone's radar, he was sporting a pink name, three releases, and an itch to wear a haori.
Looking back, I wondered how a player that started with me needing to explain some of the most basic ideas of our system had gotten so far, so quickly. On his very first attempt, he was creating a character that fell together so well that he seemed to write himself! I wouldn't see it for a very, very long time, but the answer was sitting right in front of me.
All he did was, with zero exceptions, play Tokiyo as he thought Tokiyo would act.
The result?
Without any set-in-stone planning, without even the slightest crack in the integrity of Tokiyo's character, he has created perhaps the most fully thought-out Transcendental in Bleach Gotei. In the past, I'd say this applied to Knowledge. As of today, I'd say that title has been stolen.
If you're new to us, or simply haven't followed the work of Tokiyo Fujikagi until now, I implore you: Do. I once said that he was "the best part of 2013," as it related to Bleach Gotei. This, I believe, shines through as more true than ever. Bleach Gotei, for his writing and his stern dedication to the community as its successor owner, is truly lucky to have him.
We all have a lot we could learn from his example and, although I've never said it to him before, I know I have already. Thank you for choosing to spend your time and words with us all.
So it is with genuine honor that I'm finally able to bestow a well-earned distinction, and to make an introduction a long time coming.
Congratulations, Consequence!
You are the eighth Transcendental!
!
