Galvatron Review 05-05-08

Thanks for your reviews! I appreciate that you've taken the time to send reviews in for me; I've been anxious about my first review period as Galvatron, not because I was afraid of getting negative reviews, but because I was concerned that nobody would have anything to say or that the negative reviews I got wouldn't say anything besides "bwaargh you suck." Thankfully, I got quite a few reviews. It's nice to read the positive ones, and the negative ones were specific and helpful too. I will address each one in turn, and thanks again for taking the time to write these up and send them in!

001 I love you, I want you.. Not really but still. You're great as Galvatron, you strike the fear of the faction head back into the grunts. This is a good thing, the big guys arn't just something to trot out at TP scenes. ''I'm guessing this is in reference to my going IC and fighting Autobots more than my predecessors. :) I am still getting used to how powerful Galvatron is. I want him to be terrifying, so I do cannon folks (although I mostly use A_Ranged for my cannon and not the actual Cannon attack) and beat them silly with various sharp implements on a regular basis, but I also want the battles with Autobots to be long enough to be satisfying even if they don't have much hope of defeating Galvatron in a straight-up slugfest. Hopefully the Bots I encounter are mostly of your mind and are happy to fight me instead of going "oh god, not Galvatron again now it's all down the drain."''

002 Galvatron! I think you are a rockin' guy. There's some ups and some downs, but nothing that isn't easily fixable.

Firstly, you are really easily approachable and great to get along with. You're not a scary presense that us mortals can't talk to, and that is really to be commended. Well done! Sometimes though, I think you can get a bit cannon mad. Just because you have a powerful character doesn't mean you have to devastate your opponents really early on, and I've noticed you doing that a few times. Just know when to hold back, that's all I ask. Sometimes your posing is a bit short too. I'm not saying huge epic poses are great each time, but if you're going to cannon someone, you probably want to use a bit more than just one line! I've seen this a few times, but again, it is getting better, stick with it! ''As I noted above I do cannon a fair bit, although it's rarely actually a Cannon; I try to make it LOOK like a cannon even if it's just at half power because I don't remember Galvatron ever using his rifle thing in the movie or show. Also, since my fights are usually "two to four guys vs. Galvatron" I cycle my attacks per group, not per enemy. In other words, I go along the lines of "medium low low medium high low medium low high" throughout the battle. If a new challenger should attack me just before I go high then... well, sometimes he gets it in the face. Nothing personal against you if that happened to you. You are quite right that my poses can be short. I was a fairly short poser as Blitzwing too. I try to keep it moving fast, that's a big part of my being so concise, but I know that previous Galvatrons set a standard of big poses and I'm still finding my mark between that and this.''

I'd like to see you leading from the front a bit more. Sometimes it looks like you sit back and wait for things to happen, rather than driving them along. Keep your hands firmly on the wheel and I'm sure this ship will steer fine, I have faith in you. ''Your observation is true. This is partly because I've been busy the past few weeks (my IC/act went from 13 to 4 for three weeks, then back up to 9 for this week) and partly because I DO want other people to make things happen. That's why I'm trying to develop squad leaders (see below) and officers and a general corps of Decepticons who are self-starters. I'm happy to lead the charge but I don't want people to sit around waiting for Galvatron, I try to instead produce standing orders to give other players ideas that they can run with. Thanks a lot for your confidence, by the way. :)''

I hope that didn't sound too negative, I do think you are great, you just have room for improvement. I'd also like to see the wizes show you a bit more respect, I really don't think you get enough. ''This is also a kind thought. I would like to note though that the wizzes are getting used to a new batch of royals who seem to act very differently from previous ones. The new royals are headstrong and super-active and have new ideas about how things should be done, and there's going to be some natural friction there. But I have confidence that things will work out fine. It honestly doesn't bother me to be criticized, even harshly, as long as the criticism is useful.''

003 Gaaaaaaalvatron. I like this dude. I spend most of my time on the Autobot side of the fence so I'm not exactly in the best position to review his tenure as a fachead, but I do enjoy having him in a position of OOC authority on the MUSH. He is one of the most reasonable people on staff to talk to or even argue with. He keeps a rational, level head at all times and explains his positions clearly and without the passive-aggressive guilt-trip most internet nerds seem to love to throw into their style of e-discourse. My only complaint is minor and perhaps even disposable: While he is a competent, even great roleplayer, I'd like to see him bring out a little more "nasty" in his portrayal in Galvatron. While I accept that not everyone wants to play batshit-insane-frothing-at-the-mouth Galvatron, it'd be nice to see Galvatron be a little more unpredictable and a little more nasty. There should be a little bit of an "oh shit" feeling when you see "Galvatron has arrived" in your parser. Other than that, keep up the good work, sir! ''Thank you very much, I try to be reasonable and rational and so on. I hope that more people take that away from dealing with me. We are here to have fun, after all! As for your criticism, that's a very good point and one I'm aware of. Maybe I have been too soft. Particularly in the beginning of my tenure here people would say to me "wow, your Galvatron is nice, is that even really Galvatron?" From what I have been told of the previous Galvatrons, it seems like many of them were mostly inactive except for when they wanted to punish someone (by cannoning them) or engage in an epic ritual battle with Rodimus Prime. So if Galvatron came into the room and Rodimus wasn't nearby you knew someone was about to get the beatdown. I don't want to be like this mainly because I can't imagine being able to fill my IC/Act times if no one wants to be around me because I'm likely to suddenly explode them! For that matter it's not very easy for me to play, either. My Galvatron uses words more than cannons, although I have knocked a few people around (Battlechargers, Switchblade) when circumstances obliged. I will ramp up the temper a bit though so that I don't come off TOO soft.''

004 Wow, I was going to say that i thought Galvatron had been quiet of late and I hadn't seem much from him. However, after his salvo of orders on the Decepticon board I am proud to have Galvatron's current player as our fachead. the recent posts have something for everyone, and are sure to spark a bunch of rp in the near future. The ideas in them are grea, but I do worry that it might be too much of a good thing? Some of it will(sadly) likely be overlooked and forgotten, and thus could be better saved for another time when there is nothing to do. But awesome ideas that are sure to create some awesome rp! ''That was the few weeks when I was only minimally active, yeah. University finals have reduced activity across the board, and that magnified the effect (all of the other officers were even less active than I was; 0s and 2s on their IC/Act weekly reports). I imagine that some of Galvatron's plans and ideas will go unused, yeah, but then that's why I made some of them long-term investigatory things. I also just wanted to throw out a lot of really evil ideas so that the Decepticons would have examples to follow. If I hold these ideas back and just run them myself, then the only people who get to take part are the ones who happen to be around when I do it, and as I mentioned above, they'll end up twiddling their thumbs singing the "waiting for Galvatron to entertain us" song (see the review below yours). I think of myself as more of a facilitator and a liason between staff and my faction, not so much the Guy Who Amuses You. Another part of giving all of these ideas out at once was to set a standard of just HOW evil we can be, which is pretty darn evil. A lot of the time the Decepticon/Autobot conflict is more of a giant robot gang war where we just blast eachother for wearing the wrong colors, not necessarily over any more crucial issue. If the Decepticons are up to really vile stuff like what I have planned, then when the Autobots find out about it they will have a lot more urgency which will help them keep THEIR activity up, and so on! At least, that's the plan.''

005 Galvatron: I think one of the things that has kept driving me away from the Decepticon faction is the complete lack of conflict at the moment. People keep forgetting Decepticons are the villains, they want them to be noble and heroic and team up with the good guys to save the day. ''I agree with this for sure. Galvatron has even remarked ICly on how annoying it is that he keeps being obliged to set aside his differences and team up with Rodimus against a powerful shared enemy. It seems like we do that kind of thing way too much. But then, the majority of the TPs we run come from the players, so if you don't want to see Rodimus and Galvatron doing a coordinated spinning jump kick to defeat a superpowered zombie/alien/clone/mutant/technorganic monster/Starscream, you should submit something where we don't. A lot of the submissions we get are of the "team up to fight the monster of the week" variety, and if that's what folks want then that's what they get. You notice of course that none of my plot ideas consist of this.''

One Airwolf is fine, maybe even one Cyclonus babbling about 'strength and honor', but a faction of Airwolves and Cyclonuses pretty much sucks any drama out of things. ''I think this is kind of unfair to Airwolf since she's not even an IC character for the most part. Also if you are skeptical about Cyclonus you should read his +finger. He's playing it pretty much exactly on the mark.''

The Decepticons need to be proactive, they need to be cackling madmen who the Autobots have to fight back against, not just swan about in their base quibbling about promotions and upgrades and leisure activities. Even the 'madmen' in the faction don't actually do much malice other than laugh about how crazy they are. ''Depends on the Decepticons, I suppose. You must not spend much time around the Battlechargers or the OC Seekers. "Cackling madmen" is a fairly apt description. I've actually been impressed with how busy the Battlechargers in particular have been, starting trouble and smashing everything in sight in their pursuit of tires or chalk or whatever they're trying to raid at the moment. Some of the Decepticons do swan around though, it's true. I keep in mind that a steady diet of beating up Autobots doesn't necessarily satisfy all kinds of roleplayers, some people would be bored to tears by what you suggest. It doesn't mean that they're not welcome in the faction; as long as they're not pacifists I don't require that they gibber and launch explosives in all directions 24/7. We already have the Terrorcons for that.''

As faction leader you need to lead the proactiveness. Not by just giving huge lists of orders, but actually making sure stuff is done, and being out there in the field leading by example. You sit back too much and I tend to only see you go IC when -other- people are initiating RP. You need to be in the thick of it pushing things forwards... that's why they give facheads TP staff positions. Think about what all the players and the mush as a whole wants, not what you and your group of friends want. A faction of SNADs lapcurling in an airbase won't get a mush vibrant and active, and isn't any better than Sweeps sniffing each other's hindquarters. If this continues, activity on the game will continue to decline, because as the antagonists of the game, the Decepticons shoulder the burden of initiating game-wide conflict to fuel the ongoing roleplayed drama. If you have no interest in helping the game by doing your part to reverse this trend, through example and not just by ordering everyone else to, we might as well declare peace and say game over. ''I already addressed this issue for the previous reviewer, but just to reiterate, if I'm the only one who can "SAVE THE GAME OMG ITS DYYYYING" then we might as well declare peace, yes, because that's not what I'm here to do. If I wanted to run a game I would start my own TF:A MUSH and be the director and play that awesome Animated Megatron. I will never run the majority of the plots the Decepticons do here. I am happy to help out with my various staff abilities (which consist mostly of being able to instantly heal people and teleport things) but a lively faction, heck a lively game, is kept active by its players, not by a small cadre of leaders who tug everyone around behind them like wooden ducks on a string. It's also worth noting that when I do lead from the front too much the Autobots tend to get a bit overwhelmed, so I'm probably not going to go back to my "Galvatron shows up to every event" thing again because that's just not fair to the red guys. So anyhow, sorry, I can see your point but I have considered it and the answer is no. :) I liked your bit about SNADs lapcurling being no better than Sweeps sniffing eachother's rumps though, that put a grin on my face. The difference is, if anybody has been "lapcurling" they haven't been doing it where I can see it ICly. You can believe me when I say that if I did see Swindle curling up for a doze in Motormaster's lap I would be cannoning and/or de-ranking some fools so fast that heads would spin.''

006 Yes, the Sweeps ruin shit by being annoying furry at times, but there's a big problem when you are inhibiting other players' RP via IC threats -- rightly or wrongly -- and not actually generating stuff yourself. ''I will not apologize for inhibiting other players' RP if the RP I'm inhibiting is biting eachother on the neck. Even if it's during a slow period like we were having for a few weeks there. Sorry, Charlie. My perspective on this is that a lack of activity is preferable to bad activity, because inactivity is just a blank spot, a gap in the stream of logs going up on the wiki. Bad activity lingers and taints.''

The Decepticons are the ANTAGONISTS in this game and as such exist to drive INTER-faction conflict, not just intra-faction political jockeying and all this "Strength and Honor" nonsense I'm seeing lately. The Decepticons are a band of malcontent space pirates, not a high school social club or an inner-city gang. ''Some of us would disagree with you about the inner-city gang vs. the space pirates, considering that a minority (but a significant minority, so it's not like we're not doing it) of our plots take place on other planets. Most of the time it basically is just blasting eachother over our affiliation. Autobots like Sunstreaker particularly blur the line about what the difference is between us, anyhow. But yeah, at any rate not a high school social club, I'm not quite sure where you got that one.''

Galvatron acting as a guidance counsellor/gangland warlord to a group of insular Decepticons making moony-optics at each other on the Argosy is not an effective way to lead a faction. I've never had any problems with Galvatron-The-Player, but the way the game is limping along, gasping for breath like a wounded midget sherpa trainee is either indicative of a problem with staff as a whole, the faction heads in specific, or just my expectations of what is and is not fun in a game where giant robots are supposed to be shooting at each other with lasers. Nothing interesting happens. Nothing changes. There is no progress on the macro level, and the only progress on the micro level is people getting AP upgrades so they can, as far as I can tell, be scarier as they sit around chatting with each other about the latest fads in verniers. If I wanted to play at The Breakfast Club MUSH, I would app there. ''I love that wounded midget sherpa trainee thing, that is a great mental image. :) I'm guessing you mean insulated from the Autobots, because the point of assigning everybody to the airship is that when they're all in the same spot they're LESS insular. But yeah, for a while there wasn't too much contact with the Bots. Of course now they've got contact in spades all across Russia. Four regions captured so far! Bwa ha ha! The continent will soon squirm helplessly in my mailed fist! Ahem. Anyhow, I am all about being a giant robot who shoots people, that's most of what I do here. But like I noted before, different people play for different reasons, and as long as they're not "sniffing eachother's hindquarters" or erowr'ing or drooling over verniers or whatever ICly then I haven't got a problem with it. Even if I did have a problem with it I wouldn't have anything to say, my policing of the faction is mainly an IC thing. OOCly I just want for everybody to have fun and be creative and do stuff to amuse themselves. If you DO see players doing things ICly that you don't like, you should really consider telling the player or telling the fachead though, because brooding over it and then making vague and sulky remarks about it in an anonymous review is not going to help you or them or anyone, really. Be direct and honest! It will yield more results.''

007 Well I have to say that you have done a fine job with the faction and the direction that it has gone. The re-org of rank, the direction we are going, its been great. As fachead you have been great. I need to RP with ya more, but thats more my own issue. Keep up the good work! ''Ah, you're referring to the squad initiative. What this is about is basically trying to make smaller groups within the divisions. The Sweeps, the Autobots' Wreckers, our Mayhem Attack Squad, those kind of guys. The presence of these squads will give a reason for being rank 3 (squad leader) or 2 (squad XO). Then the officers and I can assign squads to do specific missions. We're trying this kind of thing out with the Sweeps and Bandit to start out with; Sunder has an ongoing mission with Geist and Avalanche right now, for instance.''

008 Galv is approachable, awesome, and comitted to keeping the faction alive and active. Yay Galv! His greatest strength, which is also his weakness, is that he is too purple. Perhaps he should consider a color scheme more in line with the toy and his comics appearances. ''I appreciate the truth of this matter. Unfortunately I'm not entirely under control of how I look on here because of having to stick to the old movie for my canon. Otherwise I would probably look like the new Animated Megatron, he is super awesome.''