Board 8 > Zen Talks About the Match Pics Part 2: Spirit of Vengeance

(+) Yeah! (+)

I repeatedly explained why using X-2 Yuna makes zero sense.

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"Stay with me until the end. Please."
"Not until the end. Always."

There will be no fighting in here! It's a place of peace. Ulti, you're hardworking and make up for the general lack of enthusiasm for doing pics this contest. You should be commended, but you can't expect much praise if you produce pics the quality of today's Squall/Sora.

You guys shouldn't bash Ulti himself. The pic, fine, but no need for personal attacks. You're all good Picsmiths and we should function as some kinda of creepy cyborg Photoshop unit.

--
~Zen

Now when I'm done doing this incredible painful and tedious Photoshop final I'll talk about some old match pictures or something. Now you guys all play house or doctor or something fun like that

--
~Zen

Honestly, if I thought Ulti's pic were that bad, I'd submit more pics to knock them off the front page instead of whining about them.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

I think it'd be better if you just left your comfort zone a bit more often. Just maybe for one or two pics, not all of them. Just... try something crazy. It may not get picked, people may not like it, but you'll have learned new techniques and stuff that will just make your pics better and better.

--
~Zen

I was being sincere there!

--
You beat yourself up with your past. Don't blame yourself, blame the world. Blame God. Blame me.

I've come to the sad realization that this is all I'm ever going to be known for on Board 8. ZEN FOR BOARD 8 PRESIDENT 2012!

54: Alucard/Dracula vs Frog/Magus

Pic 1


Let me start by saying DAMN I never thought Alucard and Dracula would get far in a contest. We gotta nom Dracula next year!

Anyway, here is an OK pic. I guess Castlevania Judgement exists, so why not use it? I feel like if you were gonna go for that then you should take the dive and use ALL JUDGEMENT ART. With four pics it couldn't hurt, right? And we see the same bland stock Alucard/Dracula pics all the damn time. Why can't Konami give us more selection?! The pic is technically sound; I can tell that there are two people facing each other, but if you asked me to guess who they were and I hadn't heard of CV:J, I would just be like "durrr I dunno another crappy Dante reboot fighting a boss battle against a chess piece?"

Frog/Magus is more appealing, I think it catches the eye a lot more than the muted colors of the top pic (vibrance adjustment layers!!) and if the side pics were Frog and Magus looking a bit more determined (rather than Frog's stoic pouty face and Magus's TOTALLY TUBULAR DUDE face) then it would be a much stronger piece.

Overall: 6.75/10 (yeeeeah changin' the game)

Pic 2


Alright, it's the Stock Ulti compliation 2011! Get to see a round 2 Stock Ulti pic duke it out with a round 1 stock Ulti pic. Battle of the Gargantuans, this pic! I really feel like Ulti's round 2 stock pics worked better because they were like the same template vs the same template, and that sticking it against Frog and Magus against some incomprehensible background is a way to hurt it even more.

The top pic is where I'll concentrate my fire because the bottom pic is, well... You know what I'd say. The top though, like, is that Resident Evil movie font? I can't place it but it doesn't look Castlevania. Also, is that a beam Monster-Drac is firing out of his mouth, or the moon in the background? What are they standing on? What's up with Alucard's hair? And I think the border pic of Alucard has his face off center. Rule of thirds!



Always have the most eye catching part of your image in one of the intersecting areas! In this case it would have been Al's eyes. Don't underestimate the basic design principle! Every camera comes with a rule of thirds feature for a reason.

Overall: 3/10

Pic 3


Hmmm, I don't think throne Dracula should have been so centered. Again, rule of thirds, blah blah. They're the two focal points so if you RoT that s*** then you'd get them both slightly off the center. One at the top right intersecting point and one at the bottom left.

Also not getting the orange thing. I think they should have been muted a bit more because the first thing you see are two big Nickelodeon logos just WA-BAM in your face. The bookends of the CT pic are so muted that you can barely tell it's Glenn on the left. I like the middle part, though.

Overall: 6.5/10

Pic 4


ALUCARD VS DRACULA AND FROG VS MAGUS, NOW ON DIAMOND EDITION BLU-RAY AND DVD! HURRY AND PICK THEM UP TODAY BEFORE THEY GO BACK IN THE DISNEY VAULT AGAIN!

I don't get this pic

sprites in front of a vault

this isn't fallout 3

...but I can't argue that this is well designed technically and executed without any real flaws

it's so strange though

uhhhh 8/10? I'll probably change my mind after posting this

--
~Zen

Overall: 6.5/10
Aw man, I thought it was at least better than my last one. ]: I was actually getting nice feedback this time, too!

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Surskit
.-#Elements of Water#-.

55: Cloud/Sephi vs Snake/Snake

Pic 1


HEY it's that one pic from the cover of TTS that I used in round 1 except I moved Snake over so it didn't look so awkward with Snake not being at Liquid's level. GUESS WHAT THIS PERSON DIDN'T DO!

GUESS WHAT THE PERSON WHO CROPPED THIS PIC DIDN'T DO!

...

GUESS WHAT THIS PERSON DIDN'T DO AT ALL!

work. Yeah, he cropped two pics, added a stylized "v." and some names with OK font and an outer glow and called it a day.

Christ, this year is bad for freeform. Props for using a tiny black stroke to separate the pics as opposed to bevel and emboss, which should probably be put on the backburner when the early rounds are done.

Overall: 4/10

Pic 2


AUUUUUUGHRBHKFBVAKFBV MY HEART

Overall: I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE/10

--
~Zen

From: Surskit | #161
Overall: 6.5/10
Aw man, I thought it was at least better than my last one. ]: I was actually getting nice feedback this time, too!

It really isn't that bad, I just have to question some of the odd design choices.

Maybe more of a 7-7.5, I dunno, I'm sick and this medication is making my head hurt. I just can't get past the orange splats, it's so odd

--
~Zen

56: Squall/Seifer vs Sora/Riku

Pic 1


*sends pic to Zensgirlfriend*

Me: Is this good?
Her: Uhhh... is it yours?
Me: NO
Her: Oh, good, cuz it's not one of the better ones...

MEDIOCRITY is the name of the game today, I guess. There were some OK ones but as it dwindled down we're getting stuff like this, and it's like "I can crop some things to be the same size and add names but what is an outer stroke"

auuuugh my head is killing me and trying to read "Squall" and "Seifer" is not helping. Not to mention I'm pretty sure Riku is giving me bedroom eyes.

Overall: <( o )>/10

(it's an eyeball get it)

Pic 2


HAHAHAHA oh my god

oh man

what?

oh my god

these two must have been the only two submitted. they have to be. holy s***.

if you can't tell what's wrong with this then you haven't been keeping up

Overall: -2/10

I'm going to go reflect on former glory now, brb

--
~Zen

I honestly didn't even realize the first picture had names on it at first.

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http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/8718/leonflowchart.png

I dunno how the names on Squall/Seifer there are anti-aliasing. Like it's a text layer how could that even happen

--
~Zen

From: LeonhartFour | #165
I honestly didn't even realize the first picture had names on it at first.

What he said.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

From: ZenOfThunder | #160
that sticking it against Frog and Magus against some incomprehensible background

I know your head hurts and all, but you gotta give credit to Ulti for being thoughtful. The background is immediately recognizable and it's Magus' Lair.

--
Surskit
.-#Elements of Water#-.

Yeah, the background in Ulti's Frog/Magus background is extremely recognizable.

What's weird about the pic is the black line from the first pic sort of blends into the dark background in Magus's lair, and my eyes seem to want to draw that same divider between Frog and Magus's official art, but it just isn't there.

I do have to give him credit for using Magus's lair as a background, because he had to know that everyone else was going to use the cliff from 12000 BC (myself included), and this stands out as a result.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

CHARACTER BATTLE VIII REFLECTIONS


This pic went up waaaay before the rest as it was an example pic, which is something Bacon never did again. I did the Link, I think. Good Thrall too; I'm astounded he made it in more than once AND got two pieces of art to boot!


Character Battle VIII: Rise of the strange gradients and anti-aliasing!


"OH MY GOD HE DOESN'T HAVE A CLASS PIC HE'S GOING OUT IN ROUND 1!!1"

also wtf is with those banners? Why did Bacon make some of them so blendy?


Wow, Sgt. Price? A dark time for GameFAQs. So dark that we needed a brightness/contrast layer for Price and nobody seemed to be able to spare him one.

Also Mega Man X slowly sliding down and to the right.


SPEED LIIIINES AND ANTI-ALIASING


"the magic eraser tool solves all my problems"

Wasn't I saying this contest's pics were better than the last? What the CHRIST am I remembering?


I TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR BLENDY DRAKE. I hadn't learned of CONTRASTING COLORS yet.


Awkward Sonic vs Lightning who fell victim to "Bacon wants torso shots but he wants them to fit in a square? yeah not happening without a bunch of extra space and the character looking awkward." Also Lightning's game wasn't even out yet, lawl. GameFAQs is so hot for FF grrls


SPEED LIIINES AND ANTI-ALIASING AND BLENDING INTO A RED BACKGROUND *wiggly wiggly woo*



Around this time we started getting decent pics. It's all starting to come back to me!

Ulti makes good use of GLaDOS' spheres. Good work, Ulti! There's some innovative thinking for you.


One of the most BADASS pics vs blendy Liquid. Both were mine, people claimed sabotage, but I was just trying to use a brand new Liquid pic nobody had seen before, and I submitted a version with every color of the rainbow and Bacon picked BROWN. BROWN BLENDY LIQUID S***. NEVER submit a blendy option to Bacon because he loves them.

Altair looks SO AWESOME though dwejknbjsdvabef


Falco has a tummy ache


"I don't know how to render his bandana. OH WELL *clicks submit*"

that was me

"I don't know how to render his everything. OH WELL *clicks submit*"

that was ulti


people RAAAAGED over this Zidane pic cuz like apparently it wasn't good and KP didn't render it right? I don't see it... could have been brighter, though. Claptrap looks like ass but it was a good render.


SPEED LIIINES AND ANTI-ALIASING AND DROP SHADOW THAT'S TOO HEAVY *wooooo wiggly wigg*


god damn nkdfnkfvnqaevnf


WHY ARE THEY ALL SO AWFUhey this one is pretty good! I remember being upset at BACK PICS though. Why get upset? It's TASTEFUL.

--
~Zen

be nice to my pics Zen :(

I'm amazed any of them even got chosen because I barely had any idea how to do anything more than just basic backgrounds.

--
"Hold on a minute! That testimony stinks!"
"Witness! You can't just say 'Hello' and expect us to get anywhere! I want you to testify!"

Also, I got a lot of flack for Lime Alucard

--
"But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be...outside."
"I am lightning...the rain transformed."

Character battle 2010 was a very bad contest for me picwise. I got a grand total of two pics before freeform, and most of what I got afterwards was very gimmicky. Game of the Decade is really where I hit my stride as a picmaker.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

"EYYYY everyone said they hated this art but now that it isn't getting used people are b****ing EYYYY"


That pic of the Spy was release like a few hours before the match and I managed to crank out a render and a pic in that time. We were all MACHINES back then. What happened?

Also just cuz MC looks green and brownish doesn't mean you should make the background hard green to hard brown!


this was the year people had these ridiculous stiffies for Sora in different forms. I don't know where that came from all of a sudden. Was KHII fresh?


GRRRR GRRRR I remember everyone loved this. Goes to show that the quickest way to B8's heart is to have someone shaking their fist at someone else.


Arthas Menethil: King of Cropped Pics. The day someone renders him is the day the Frozen Throne sounds like something that I'd actually want to sit on.


People thought Duke would beat Charizard because of this pic.

The power of the greatest flag in the world, ladies and gents.


"teehee hey mr kratos"

"RAAARGHRAHTHG"


they both look homeless


WHAT A GODDAMN BADASS this was easily a top 10 pic at the time it came out. I think KP did it?


oh man that Tidus pic. No wonder he has almost no good legit victories.


they're in the SAME POSE. Difference is that whoever did Simon didn't know how to render


ZEN CAN SMELL A CROPPED PIC FROM A MILE AWAY. That's not Ridley with a pink gradient, it's RIDLEY FROM THE DOJO! HE CAME PRE-PACKAGED WITH THAT GRADIENT! CROP! CROP! 2/10!


ha


Captain Falcon DEMANDS attention here, and Wander looks like he's going to have to choke a b**** because of it


this is the match pic that created a new rule: ALWAYS check if your character is top or bottom in the match and have them face the right way accordingly.


Such a strange Fox pic. I've always wondered why this one looks so... fuzzy.


People thought this was a crop, BUT IT IS NOT! People thought I added crazy effects to Shepard, BUT I DID NOT! He just looks really demonic in that art for some reason. Also, the first pic made for this contest by any Picsmith was of Ellis for some reason, and up until they day before the match it was the ONLY pic for Ellis submitted, and then I decided to be a dick and make a new one an hour before pics went up and it got picked. The original remains lost in time...


that zero has always seemed to "herp a derp" to me. Like some high school kid was drawing cyborgs in his notebook.


always hated this Terra gradient. Good placement of the characters, though

--
~Zen

From: ZenOfThunder | #174
this was the year people had these ridiculous stiffies for Sora in different forms. I don't know where that came from all of a sudden. Was KHII fresh?

Pretty sure he only got it for this match!

And I just wanted to use something different. When I saw Mario get a Fire Mario pic, I decided to go for a different Sora pic.

I also got a lot of flack for "ZERO WITH NO SABER?!"

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http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8516/whatisdesiresig.gif

really wish I had motivation to make pics for this contest

--
I wish I could wear skirts and dresses :( -GMUN

Yeah, and I did that Fire Mario pic. Probably the best pic I did the entire contest too.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

Also got a lot of heat for that Wander pic!

The dude literally has nothing to use though, so good luck!

I submitted a pic with him riding Agro, too, but Bacon decided not to pick it!

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http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab48/Leonhart4/Squall.jpg

can't get enough of that Marth. It reminds me of Furry Fox from a few pics back for some reason. High tier melee characters are fuzzy.


that vincent was the FIRST Photoshop the maker ever did. I can't remember who, but they IMed me with literally no experience and I coached them through (over aim with no visual aid) how to make a pic and then he cranked out this one but I couldn't really explain to him what anti-aliasing was but he was so happy he just submitted it anyway.


I like this one, I think it doesn't get enough respect. Good colors.


maaaan of all the things you could do with Missingno...


SECOND YEAR IN A ROW everyone submits the same Big Daddy pic and all claim it's there's when it goes up. MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD USE A DIFFERENT PIC THEN


people were SO WORRIED when this pic came up. The return of GFNW? Peach looked so good! Gordon looked meh. I made that Gordon and it was my first try using inner shadow and it came out lousy.

--
~Zen

From: ZenOfThunder | #179

I like this one, I think it doesn't get enough respect. Good colors.

And that's my Yoshi. For the longest time, I had it backwards though and didn't notice. Thankfully, I finally mirrored it like hours before the pics went up.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

Bacon will usually mirror a pic himself if he likes it enough to use it anyway. Pretty sure I submitted Alucard and Zero facing the wrong way, and he switched them around.

--
"But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be...outside."
"I am lightning...the rain transformed."

Thank god whoever used this didn't have the bat any lower.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

pretty bland. THEY ALL WERE. This entire round was BLAND CITY. And Bacon was like "oooo I've been wanting to use that one filter and some frame I got off google images" so that's what we got. And it was weeeeird.


"HE'S LOSING BECAUSE HE GOT A BAD PIC"

yeah ok


"yo what up wit dis cat right here? he all screamin n s***"


boss looks upset that all of her character development is wasted on a cube


the return of bad SFF matches? why did this need to happen? Also a bunc of Sonic 3 & Knuckles logo pics were submitted and when Bacon didn't use them people threw huge hissy fits. Honestly, what are the chances he breaks format for that?


aaaand Ulti continues using the spheres! over and over! for a very long time!


BAD. ASS.


see above

72-76 were all winners, really.


SMACK! Kefka was a huge hit. Everyone loved this pic. Kefka over-performed and some people said it was cuz he didn't look like Lettuce for once.



UH OH THAT REALLY ISN'T ISAAC. WE GOTTA CHANGE IT CUZ IT TOTALLY COULD EFFECT THE OUTCOME OF THIS MATCH.


I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID. THIS ROUND WAS AWESOME. Seriously flip through round 2 of CBVIII if you get the chance, it's so hardkore.


this was my personal favorite. Zelda just looks so beautifully rendered and detailed and Ezio looks like such a goddamn badass.


"are... are they gonna DO IT?"

"ARE THEY GONNA DO IT RIGHT NOW?"


EVERYONE submitted this Falcon pic and everyone said it was theirs. Maybe we all shouldn't crop the same pic!


"dmc2 dante match over" is all I heard that night.

...it was kind of true.


I had been submitting this picture of Fox since like the last character battle CUZ HE IS SO BADASS HERE (we called him Bang Fox because he was so bangin') so I like lost my s*** and produced 59 variants of this pic to Bacon and he finally used it. That's a Pic record that's yet to be broken.


hate the orange


FFFFFF I'm in awe. This was the highest voted pic of the contest IIRC. I ran "rate the pic" that year. Wish I could find the scores...


love this Terra. so sweet lookin


I think this was Ulti's vincent render, and it was the only one this round to show clear anti-aliasing. Vincent has surprisingly little pre-rendered art though, so bravo for trying.


Ness vs disco ball

--
~Zen

I remember Bacon flipped the Falcon pic and TOTALLY RUINED IT because the good Captain was supposed to be giving that weird pervy look to Riku.

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http://img.imgcake.com/nio/26leonpngat.png
http://img.imgcake.com/nio/daigohadoupnguj.png

Round 3 was ULTI'S ROUND. There was no guildline for Round 3 so Ulti just MADE ONE and flooded the submission form with history's first Stock Ulti Pics. Bacon liked it and made this awful TV border with the stupid lightning bolt and static and updated the form with a guideline that followed Ulti's style. Ulti lost his s*** for a week and a half.


random stray hair on that 8-bit mustache. return of "Luigi looking down in shocked surprise" from that match he had with Tifa's boobs


and this is why ganondorf will never overperform in a sprite round. also ganon was the pic used as Bacon's round 3 example.


"sprites"



"WAAAAH IT'S NOT A REAL SPRITE CHANGE IT CHANGE IT"

who cares? He wasn't gonna win and I'd rather have sprite vs sprite than sprite vs art. what are the chances the sprite artist sees it and complains or something?


a god falls

thanks to the best sprite pic EVER


""""""sprites""""""


a board 8 fad gets a day on the front page


snake you got some s*** on your face. oh my god pikachu almost broke the noble nine because of this one.


stealth smilin' squall, the triple S of leon's doom


god that's ugly

--
~Zen

The white area under Squall's arm, the bane of KoolAid's existence

And I remember you flipped out when I rated the pic a 10/10 in your topic.

--
"I couldn't stand a day without a past or future. I need to live each moment to keep fighting here and now."

I can't believe RE:Gaiden made a match pic. Seriously.

Auron vs. Zero owned though.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

best first freeform pic ever. THAT'S MAMA LUIGI TO YOU. Great sprite thing at the bottom there. Cool divider.


MR. L was a big B8 fad at the time, and people were submitting like dozens of pics of him each round. Thank god he finally got one or there would have been L-based anarchy that didn't related to L-Block for once.


ha, needed some adjustment layers but still ha


the hell was I smokin'


what is that background? what a strange choice


I don't remember this one, it's p cool


oh god I remember this. seriously all I did was troll back then





greatest match of this contest


Ulti's weird subliminally lesbian pic. Bacon lets us use that ZSS artwork but it's technically fan art, so... yeah


this is cool, I like lines


ryu is all "THE COLORS, DUKE! THE COLORS!" or maybe he's spinning some sick beat at a turntable. I've never seen this art and we haven't seen it since.


I don't remember this. clever I guess?


not bad, needs less outer glow


the lighting/coloring is so consistent here. good job.


I'd like it more if Squall wasn't alreayd holding his weapon


somebody wanted it to look like Tifa was having the sexes with sexiroth.

pfffft like that pairing would ever happen

Red XIII/Tifa 4 lyfe


AHHHH WE HAD GENERIC CROPS WITH A BEVEL AND OUTER GLOWING NAMES BEFORE!! AHHHH


...why school


what an explosion of color

--
~Zen

I LOVE THIS LINK ALT thank you whoever made this


YEEEEAH CARD ART CHARIZARD. A noble defeat. People were talking about the Zard breaking the Noble Nine.


so strange. I don't think this works because of lack of space and the fact that neither of these characters is into scrapbooking.


SO GOOD


clever. don't even really mind it was a crop because of their expressions.


how meta


this is pretty cool. this has been done before, right?


the return of shy, smexy cloud


uh oh they're both glowing. that means it's either intense of the picsmith was just lazy.


MY MASTERPIECE. I love this one so much. So much tension! It was really lazy, though.


Overall, an OK contest. A lot of duds early on, but Round 2 was mostly badass and some of the freeforms were creative and mostly diverse. I wish we had an ounce of that this year...

--
~Zen

It wasn't even the first time RE Gaiden was in a match pic!



I remember how bad the board freaked out when this pic was revealed.

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http://i43.tinypic.com/dgwh0.gif
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/atukam/OHWD/snownd.gif

And honestly, it's pics like that which prove that the sprite round just needs to die. So many totally unfair and unbalanced pics.

--
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/7760/222bj.jpg

From: LeonhartFour | #186
The white area under Squall's arm, the bane of KoolAid's existence

And I remember you flipped out when I rated the pic a 10/10 in your topic.

I REMEMBER THIS

this is why I love you

--
~Zen

From: LeonhartFour | #191
And honestly, it's pics like that which prove that the sprite round just needs to die. So many totally unfair and unbalanced pics.

Bacon cancelled it one year when too many new guys made it far, I think. Everyone was complaining Altair didn't have a real sprite and it was impossible to do and he just made it freeform

I can't remember when this was

--
~Zen

2008

--
I wish I could wear skirts and dresses :( -GMUN

Nah, that was the first time we'd ever seen a picture like this. It was pretty awesome though.



But yeah, best pic of the contest.

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http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/7760/222bj.jpg

From: ZenOfThunder | #188

what is that background? what a strange choice

It's a room full of swords, because they were both holding swords and neither character is really known for that. I guess.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

oh ok, I thought it might be that but it looked kinda like a wooden fence after a bit.

alright I'm gonna try to sleep off this damn cold. night night guys, keep makin dem pics

--
~Zen

From: ZenOfThunder | #188

ryu is all "THE COLORS, DUKE! THE COLORS!" or maybe he's spinning some sick beat at a turntable. I've never seen this art and we haven't seen it since.

I have no idea where I pulled that Ryu from, but I over-sharpened it so he looked more muscular to fit with the Monday Night Raw theme.

--
"Go get me Jared...from Subway!" -- CM Punk
This line reserved for Rivalry Guru winner.

Uhhhh you mean this Ryu?

--
"I couldn't stand a day without a past or future. I need to live each moment to keep fighting here and now."

Also, totally awesome Ryu/Ken pic someone should've made something from:



Street Fighter Alpha has such good artwork.

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http://www.gifsoup.com/view/593815/frasier-and-niles-dance-o.gif