I don't get why people are upset about Devil Incarnate Christopher Robin. Okay, I understand the reasoning if you look at it without context, but context has been provided. That is how the joke goes with Winnie the Pooh Homerun Derby. It is perfectly in-character for the memes surrounding the game, and I would be sad if the obvious joke omake was changed to be less accurate rather than more.
People were upset because someone decided to fuck over a character for a dumb meme and some quick laugh (on top of maybe some agenda), therefore enforcing the Memetic Psycho interpretation in the minds of everyone.
Thanks to stuff like that we got Misogynistic Death-Eater Ron Weasley, Date-Raping Stalker Ginny Weasley, Manipulative Overlord Albus Dumbledore, Orwellian Dictator Celestia and so on and on...
Dragging up some probably shoddily-made flash game that´s slated for the axe soon just to shit on a character is bad form.
Anyway, as for my turn analysis:
Sinatron
[ ] Send Doofenshmirtz a gift basket
82
You've received a gift basket on the front steps of DEI, loaded to the brim with chocolates, wine, and fruit. Attached to a completely ordinary poker chip is a simple note. 'No hard feelings.' In addition to the edibles you've found a phonograph of 'Sinatra's Greatest Hits', signed 'To My Number One Fan, Francis Monogram. Frank Sinatra.' After quite thoroughly checking the basket for bugs or traps, you can confirm that it is, in fact, a legitimate gift with no hidden surprises.
Captain Gantu
Kronos Corporation
[ ] Rebrand
DC 100
88+23+34+10+7=163
Spectacular Success
Newly minted CEO Evelyn Deavor has endeavored to rebrand Kronos Corporation and distance it from its old policies of being ambiguously prejudiced against naturally powered individuals. In a grand speech given in the heart of Las Vegas, Ms. Deavor announced to the world that it was time to move forward into a new era, to leave the prejudice and preconceptions of the past behind. Sinatron publicly announced that from this day forward, the Kronos Corporation would be known as the Olympia Corporation, to symbolize that they were completely divorced with their past.
Hmmm, so Kronos/Olympia is drawing back from its anti-Super stance, while Sinatron specifically decided to gift his "Number One Fan" a present basket with an autogram on top, both of which turned out to not be booby-trapped in any way and instead be perfectly genuine signs of affection by the bot. While I am happy that at least Sinatron doesn´t seem to really hold the Sands Fiasco against us, I am still a bit worried about how he knows about Monogram being his fan (if he didn´t simply assume it outta a sense of entitlement so very common to celebs, that is - "I am here, they are here, so they must be a fan because I am great", you know?)
That being said, that basket should delete the slight loyalty debuff Monogram got from not getting inatrons hand, so right now things are looking positive on that front.
Unfortunately, that might change thanks to this stinker:
Judge Doom
[ ] Condemn Doofenshmirtz for only supporting Toons
DC 70
57+28+26+4=114
Great Success
Judge Doom has managed an admittedly masterful attack on your character without committing any sort of slander. "It shames me to say that some of my fellow industrialists have focused the efforts of their corporations in the wrong direction." he admitted at a press conference. "Choosing to rely exclusively on the funny folk while allowing others to fall to the wayside. Though toons are able laborers when motivated... something of which the good Doctor Doofenshmirtz is no doubt aware... I fear that he has ignored one of the problems truly plaguing this country: Its treatment of super-powered individuals, animated or not. I remember the days of the Golden Age, where men and women of character could perform good deeds without the fear of reprisal. Yet today, I see Doofenshmirtz relying on his mechanical terrors, rather than the honest, hardworking heroes that populate his lands. I urge my fellow leaders of industry to join me in…"
[ ] Lobby[ing] against the SRA
DC 90
97+35+28+26+4=190
Critical Success
Cloverleaf Industries announced its public condemnation of the Superhero Registration Act to absolutely astonishing public approval. With Kronos Corporation gone and the new Olympia Corp poised for a wind change, politicians across the West came out and declared their intentions to repeal the act, something which will undoubtedly become a divisive issue in the upcoming election. This effort has set off a wave across the country among metahuman individuals, hero and villain alike, who publicly decried the act which had singlehandedly put a stop to the Golden Age.
So, resident hypocritical asshole Judge Doom (Syndrome is probably dead, so he doesn´t count anymore) decided to twist our pro-Toon agenda into a smokescreen for us actually still shirking them and also leaving everyone else, especially "Regular John Doe" in the dust, while going for the typical #AllLivesMatter approach of racists and trying to look good by "graciously reaching out to those forgotten by SJW and their sensationalist propaganda"...That really sucks, especially since with him trying to lobby against the SRA and Kronos/Olympia going awy from their anti-Super stance it´d be a reasonable assumption that Doom and Deavor might team up on the issue, further destabilizing everything and weakening our position.
That means that we should really push back against Doom by outing him as a damn populist and hypocrite (seriously, he is shitting on us for using Normbots and the like as our muscle and relegating Toons to menial tasks - totally forgetting that Goofy is essentially our CHIEF DIPLOMAT AND HEAD ENFORCER, for one - while he uses Cog-Bots and flatout genocides Toons on the slightest whims), destroying his blooming popular support entirely before that bastard can take up steam.
[ ] Combat human poachers in Asia
ENCOM
[ ] Release a new OS
DC 80
97+58+34+8=197
Critical Success
ENCOM announced the release of its newest operating system: ENCOM Legacy. In complete defiance of everyone's expectations, it's actually… really good. That's not even an exaggeration. It somehow managed to remove all of the incredibly annoying things that were present in previous editions while modernizing the latest iteration of the OS. It has been rolled out for free to every ENCOM user in the world, regaining them a lot of goodwill and raising expectations of a serious OS war in the near future.
That is a bit annoying, because it means that we are losing ground on the digital battlefield with our DoofOS. That being said, right now this is only a secondary concern since before that we were able to really capitalize on ENCOMs big blunder with the Centennial Edition and now there are only starting to close the gap. I´d say that we should do some light counter-developement to at least contest for the time being, but for actual, big countermeasures we might lack the slots.
...Could we maybe use some sub-routines of the Chip to buff our OS some more? Of course I am only talking about minor, non-problematic stuff
DC 90
Sycorax
[ ] Pursue a government contract
DC 100
47+25+27+10+8=117
Decent Success
Sycorax has successfully acquired a government contract after months of negotiation. With the recent upheaval in the Kronos Corporation, the government has decided to look to other sources for its military contracts. Sycorax has been commissioned for a highly classified project, tasked with producing 'large-scale biological combat solutions'.
52+48+22+15=137
Ewww...biological weaponry could get nasty if left unchecked. Best be on the lookout on that front.
Captain Gantu has recently begun a campaign against human poachers in Asia.
Khan Industries
[ ] Research fusion power
DC 120
53+23+32+10+4=122
Bare Success
Shere Khan has continued his research into fusion power. Reports are naturally classified, but what is known suggests slow but steady progress towards that holy grail of energy production.
Hmmm...do we have any way to lend him a hand in his research? Conditionally of course...we are no welfare, after all. But I definitely want to get some formal contact goign with him, both to have someone we not-hate swoop in and conquer L.A. after we kicked Doom to sludge and to get that *Alliance of the Semi-Sane* going finally.
While the responsible individuals have been exceptionally hard to find, he managed to track down a lead.
Fredzilla
[ ] Investigate the bat monsters
DC 80 (Reduced by XP)
62+24+30+12=128
Spectacular Success
To be continued in Interlude: Fredzilla in: The Banzai Bat Blowout
US Government
[ ] Recruit Talent
DC 60
82+32+36=150
Critical Success
To be continued in Interlude: Licencing To Kill
We need to wait for those omakes to get more information for proper planning.
Toffee
[ ] Approach Doofenshmirtz with an offer
DC 0
52
To be continued in Interlude: Friends You Haven't Met
First I was in favor of agreeing to his terms, but after reading the whole backlog I have to admit that we might have to refuse his "offer" on account of several concerning tidbits. That being said, we should frame our refusal as non-offending as possible to keep him from moving directly against us already...Whelp, there go my hopes of inviting Toffee into our Alliance. On the other hand, him being an enemy does give us an opportunity to expand into his territory - maybe in tandem with Shego moving in as well?
...We really need to talk to her asap for several reasons.
The local populace seemed like they didn't even notice anything was amiss.
InventCo
[ ] Start an advertising campaign
DC 80
74+28+24+10=136
InventCo rolled out a new line of large-scale exosuits meant for massive construction projects. These have seen a huge surge in popularity among civilian contractors as well as on government-sponsored projects. Investors expect InventCo stock to skyrocket in the coming months.
After realizing that this is DOR-15, that could put a lot of pressure on both Shego and Xanatos - both of whom would be prime candidates for the A/CotSS. That means, that we should watch this a bit more closely in the coming months.
Nevertheless, Gantu managed to come up with a plan to put a stop to things.
???
[ ] Collect items for the auction
DC 0
90+25+15=130
Critical Success
Xanatos sent you a letter saying that he got ahold of some very interesting information about the auction this year, mentioning things like pieces of the Shengxiao Set and an Encantus up for sale. He encourages you to begin setting aside funds for the auction, and you don't plan to disagree.
While I don´t recognize those artifacts, Xanatos going outta his way to advise us to set aside some funds for them coupled with his genuine-sounding desire to help us get into the magical community tells me that a) we should listen to him on that advise at least a little bit longer and b) those artifacts sound like really juicy stuff.
So yeahy us - or rather, Janna - attending that auction is sounding more and more appealing to me.
Random Event Roll:
22
Set aside for later and roll again...
85
Random Hero Unit from your Rolodex joins you for free!
To be continued in Interlude: Consternation of Ninjutsu
Neat...although I would have preferred the hypnosis gal and not someone the title implies to be a ninja of some sort (I admit that I forgot, whom we got on that Rolodex)
That being said, the bad first roll getting banked does concern me a bit.
Anyway, those are my first thoughts on the moves of our rivals...Speaking of which, Shego wasn´t among them for some reason. Of course that simply means that we didn´t catch any infos on her doings, but she as one of our direct neighbour seemingly being silent for two months is a mite concerning still.
