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A.S.V.S Headline News "All the spam that's fit to print" |
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Alyeska Under Siege
Incensed by what they term "traitorous statements", fanatical trekkies have begun protesting outside the home of long-time versus debater Alyeska. Demanding that he "come to his senses", the demonstrators have essentially made Alyeska a prisoner in his own house. Late yesterday, a small group attempted to burn a pile of Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Section books on the front lawn but were thwarted when Alyeska turned on the sprinkler system. In general, however, the demonstration has been peaceful with people taking turns at the bullhorn preaching from the Star Trek Technical Manual. While there is a strong current of anger present, some of the protestors expressed sadness and bewilderment. "What he has done is simply incomprehensible to me," said one protestor early this morning, "I used to look up to this guy, you know? I can only believe that he has fallen victim to the vast rabid-warsie conspiracy." |
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The uproar began on May 18th when Alyeska made the
following post on SD.net
and SB.com:
Might as well make this official... lets start with what started it all.
The first two Incredible Cross-Sections books were conceived to
explore bold new territory in the Star Wars universe, taking a rare look inside more
vehicles and vessels than we had ever seen before, and doing in in unprecedented detail.
These books would represent the most thorough research ever done on these vehicles and
would receive LucasFilm's formal imprimatur as canon. These volumes would henceforth be
sent out to licensees as reference guides and would become useful manuals for Industrial
Light & Magic, where some of the artwork influenced details in Episodes I and II.
(Star Wars Insider #68 pg. 36)
Take a wild guess what that means. As many of you know I have
taken the stance of living with ICS while not accepting it. This changes things
completely. ICS just got a level of standing much higher then I ever imagined and has
become a part of the Canon level. To do this Lucas or the people in charge had to agree
with it. Furthermore, it means the SW galaxy as I saw it from the EU (specifically the
novels) is not considered as high. I have my own personal view on what SW ought to be, but
I recognize what the creators intend.
In that sense I concede the VS debates when it comes to the issue of firepower (one of the
more well known points of the VS community). Not even the highest figures that I would
consider remotely possible come anywhere near SW except in unusual circumstances or plot
of the week enemies. I still think these figures are absurdly high, but this is what the
creators intended.
Take this for what you will. It took a fair amount of effort to swallow my pride like
this. Many of you have known me for a while, through my better times and through the not
so good ones. Simply put I accept that SW has yet another critical advantage (firepower)
over ST and this is from the creators and owners of the series making these decisions. I
must abide by what they say, and as such I am doing so.
I'm not signing off from the VS debates, there are still plenty of angles to look at with
unique situations. There is also plenty of fun in theorizing. I just had to make this
public knowledge so people understand my take on recent events.
It should be noted that, while vocal, the protestors constitute a minority of the versus community. Alyeska has received numerous letters of commendation for his honesty and integrity over this difficult issue. He even shows respect for his detractors as demonstrated by a statement given in an interview with ASVS-HN. "These are people I've worked side by side with over the years. Whether it was against the invasions from ASVS, Mike Wong, or Star Wars superiority in general, we have been comrades. What they don't understand is that I am still a patriot of Star Trek. So you see, I understand why they are upset with me and camping out on my lawn, but it still hurts to see it."
Riot police have been dispatched to ensure the event remains peaceful and are due to arrive sometime this evening. "We have been armed with the normal equipment for conditions like this: batons, tasers, tear gas, napalm," said Lt. Paizo, "We'll use these to coax the crowd into leaving. If that fails and the situation becomes grim, we have also been given copies of Star Trek V. Hopefully, it won't come to that."
In a late development this afternoon, a Los Angeles judge threw out a lawsuit filed by the Daystrom Institute, a trekkie advocacy group, seeking to force Alyeska to surrender his "ears". Judge Ito dismissed the case on the basis that "It's fucking stupid!"
