Yes, it is true. Axrendale, Azula lover, amateur historian, Kataang shipper, has returned. I am coming back to TV.com, and I am coming back with a vengance:twisted:

There is a reason why I have deserted this place for the Refuge.

*glances around shiftily*

I am considering doing what I said I would do a long time ago and make a covert attempt to bring back the fan clubs. Yes, the ACC may well be about to make a comeback:D

However, I am not going to rush into this. I will start cautiously, attempting another fan-club possibly with an alter-ego profile of mine. If there is no immediate locking, I may well choose to proceed.

I'm going to try and talk to Highlord - with luck he can be persuaded to see this as a genuine thread, not a game, and will modify the rules to simply try and control the clubs, rather than banning them outright.

If anyone should report his to the mods, they will discover just why the ACC has a military arm:evil:

The middle of September is rapidly shaping up to be among the most exciting weeks of my life, at least as far as epic stories that I have followed for some time being continued in some fashion go. In the course of a single week, all of the following will be released:

- The Avatar MMO (BTW - isabelwhatx - prepare to get pwned:D)

- The Season 3 box set of Avatar DVDs

- Brisingr - the third and final book in the Inheritance Trilogy

- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (another game - I read the novelization of it and it appears to be good:D) No matter how much hold Avatar has gained over me, I will never completely throw off my addiction to the GFFA:D

Over the last few weeks I have taken every opportunity to make money that I can find. I have done inumberable jobs, taken up baby-sitting - whatever it takes to lay my hands on some cash. I believe I have enough for the lot now:D

Life is good:D

Also notable news around this time - I think that by the end of September I should have made some solid progress into my Azula fanfic project. More about that later.

Welcome to the Azula Crushers Club, the home of the people who have recoognized Azula for what she is: one of the greatest, perhaps even the greatest fictional character ever to terrorize the good guys and live to tell the tale. Unlike it's predecessor, this club is going to be a very private affair - membership is by invitation only. Fortunatly, invitation will be not be hard to obtain - anyone seen to actively praise, defend, or in any way place in a positive light, glorify, or admit intense feelings for Azula will recieve an invitation. People who have not recieved an invitation but wish to join can pm me or one of the members of the Royal Family, or The Great Fire Sage, and will be instructed on the requirements, or, if they are deemed worthy, invited. Every member of the old club on the Avatar Forum retains membership.

I will be posting a link to this blog in my sig, and other members are encouraged (but not required) to do the same.

Having this club on my blog may prove to be temporary: I am still working on getting another one started on the forum. Until that happens however, we will be open and running here.

Because all we can use here is the comments, what we can do is much more limited than if it had been on a thread in the forum, which is why I still advocate working to re-open one there. As I said, it is my hope that this will only be temporary.

Until then, you know the drill: if it depicts Azula in a positive light, or offers genuine and insightful analysis of her character, it is welcome here. With luck, it will not be here much longer, but back on the forum, where it belongs.

Here are the current members:

Phoenix King: Axrendale

Firelord: Jackson5050

Royal Family:

- SalKing2

- isabelwhatx

- xRamensx

Great Fire Sage:

- PsychoPass

Chief Advisors and Propeganda Specialists:

- Dafoose

- libraman_92

Fire Nation Aristocracy:

- ThisCrazyGuy

- Bluefiremaster

War Minister:

- lordozai890

General:

- IrohtheTea

Admiral:

- zuko_thebeast

Fire Sages:

- Final_FantasyX2

- Halostar11

- kitsuneboy1

Sun Warriors:

- Spacerac (Chieftain)

Dai Lee Agents:

- yogi_tulsii

- Falcondude123

- Lupusgirl

Imperial Firebenders:

- dantedones

- rgc19

- KikitheFiend

Yu Yan Archers:

- TheGreatBishop

- hotangelcrazy

- Bunnygirl

Rough Rhinos:

- FireLordZuko93

- imNOTcrazy

- kratosgod69

If you wish to swap to another job, simply talk to me and tell me the role you would like to play, and I will change you.

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Jackson5050 has been chosen as Firelord for truly monumental devotion to Azula. Congratulations Jackson

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And here is the picture that we bow down to and worship daily:

The full sized one can be seen in all it's glory here:

http://badassk9.deviantart.com/art/Azula-80888877

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Unless someone can find a better one, this AMV, created by the brilliant ravenfilange24 will serve as the equivalent of our anthem:

http://www.livevideo.com/video/143DBC0D68504872A45D78C9E50BF95F/azula-daughter-of-fire.aspx

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To advertize your membership, put this pic, made by Dafoose, in your sig:

May Azula be with you, for Darth Vader was wrong. The power of The Force is insignifigant next to the epicness of Azula:D

The fan clubs have been locked.

Up until now, I have had little understanding of why so many users have built up such a deep-seated dislike of the mods' heavy-handedness. Now I am begining to gain some understanding of it.

Nevertheless, we must not give into the urge to riot about this. Instead, we need to go about this in an orderly manner. PMs need to be written to the mods, someone needs to start a petition, and a few OWLism ridden threads on the forum wouldn't go amiss either.

If we can explain the situation, I remain confident that the mods and staff can be persuaded to see reason. What was the harm of those fanclubs? Granted, a few were a bit out of hand. But some, such as the Azula, Katara, and Zuko clubs truly had some potential for character discussion, games of a sort, and general fun.

I stress; if we remain calm, attempt to explain to the mods via pm, and get a petition with 40 or so signatures (easily done; the ACC alone had some 30 members), we should at the very least, get permission to start over again with the clubs. Granted, some mistakes were made. There was too much rivalry, a lot of useless posts, etc. But if we get permission to start over with the meaningful ones, we can make it work. If we can explain this, I really don't see why not.

Are we really going to let all of Dafoose and SalKing2's hard work go to waste?

I'm back from the beach and good news is everywhere:

- death_soul89 (AKA the reincarnation of doomed_soul89) is nowhere to be seen. Whether banned or simply having chosen to leave, this forum is a better place for his absence.

- The Beach was great. I spent most of my time just swimming.

- A couple of days ago, Avatar's ratings on tv.com soared upwards by 7. It does indeed give me hope.

- I am finally making some progress with the fanfic I am writing about Azula.

- I am now a member of the High Council of the Loyalist Committee:D

- Plans are under way for another RPG, in the style of the one held several days ago. I am confident that I shall once again emerge victorious.

That's all for now. May the Tea be with you (The new Star Wars movie that has just come out has definitely put me in a mood:D ).

Well, the good news is that doomed_soul89 is banned. :D

The bad news is that he's back already. :evil:

But the good news is that he hasn't changed one little bit. Why is this good news? Because I've already been able to report 5 times on his first day back. The mods aren't stupid - with luck they'll look at the icon and username, remember the guy they banned yesterday, and realise that they've got another gelem on their hands.

I would like to thank everyone who posted on my last blog, as well as many other people who didn't. You are the real reason why I keep coming here, why I feel that this place is worth hanging around, in defiance of a persistent troll who only wants to ruin the experience for other people. Thank you.

On another good news note, Isabel, Dafoose, and I triumphed in the RPG on the "What country would you like to rule" thread, through the introduction of a deus ex machina of monstrous proportions (The Great Comet). Well fought guys; and that was the most fun I've had on this forum in ages. We'll have to do it again, although next time may have to impose a few rules to check some of the players from running rampant. However, that will ahve to wait for a few days.

My family is going down to the beach for a couple of days. I'll be taking my laptop, so I'll still be on each evening, but I won't be able to post during the day. I'll be back on saturday, and we can discuss another RPG then, mabye.

Ciao, and may the tea be with you all (a phrase I coined on the Tea thread:P ).

I'm beginning to feel like pounding my head through a wall.

For me, this forum was always about having fun. I came here to discuss, to contribute, to play games like the one currently undergoing on the "What Nation Would You Want to Rule" thread, generally to have a good time. Quite frankly, at the moment, I am not having such a good time.

Every evening, I somehow seem to get drawn into a verbal Agni Kai with that ***** doomed_soul89. Normally I love getting into such verbal sparring matches, but these ones inevitably leave me wound up and frustrated. I swear that that guy is doing it on purpose - he seems to live purely to wind people up. Somehow even the fact that they are subjects I normally love to argue about (shipping, etc) is doing no good. I am so sick of having snide, negative, and derogatory comments thrown at me that I am on the point of abandoning this place. Argument I can stand for, live for, in fact. What I can't stand is sticking around in a place haunted by an *** guarenteed to come up with the perfect negative comments to utterly deflate that sense of enjoyment that made me fall in love with posting here.

So basically, this is a rant about that *** ** * *****.

I'm not sure what I'm really looking for posting a blog about this. Perhas it's just to vent my feelings. Perhaps I'm just looking for some reassurance that it's worth it to hang around here until he leaves and I can have some peace of mind.

I think that I'm begining to understand how it was people like this guy that was the catalyst for the creation of the Refuge. I guess that all I can do is continue to report such gems as "You're an idiot", "Strap him in a straight jacket and I'll sedate him" and "I'm just doing this to shut you up", and hope that the mods see sense and ban him.

Ironic. It was only yesterday that I was helping in the creation of a "Troll Reformation Committee", and yet here I am hoping against all hope that one of those trolls gets the banhammer that he so richly deserves.

Advice, anyone?

Various arguments on various threads are thriving, the Shipping War is still in full swing, this place as a whole is still rather fun. Of course it's nowhere near as good as the Refuge, but still, my avowed practice of coming here at least once a day to contribute remains something enjoyable, as opposed to a duty to be gotten out of the way of.

The one thing that is missing is some good old fashioned discussion - may have to try and spark some of that. There is plenty of analysis on the shipping thread, but still, a few analysis threads would not go amiss - something to work on.

And a piece of very good news - the ratings on the Summary page are slowly begining to creep upwards again. It may not last, but nevertheless, it was a cheering sight.