pombe Posted October 11, 2015 (edited) Location: E11 - The Fascini Cluster Tags: Exploration, Land Vehicle, Spaceship Dramatis Personae (because because): Octan Pombe Courageous, wise, and a gentleman extraordinaire, Pombe leads his intrepid team of explorers on adventurous adventures, in the name of profit for the Octan corporation and its shareholders. His list of achievements is long, from mentoring the now super undercover Octan explorer, Isabel Novak, to destroying all the cacti on New California, to rescuing Octan employees captured by aliens in Sinden's Run and recovering their pants from the dastardly "jeans stealers". He credits his success to his following in the footsteps of his explorer idols, Lu Caslaug-Hing and Wick Nole, even though Wick Nole is really an engineer. Despite Pombe's accomplishments, he still somehow gets reported to HR consistently by Dr. Danielle Long, whose ship, the O.C.S. Axle, Pombe and his team have taken residence aboard. His sister, Pombie, is a special forces agent for the rival M.A.N.T.I.S. corporation. Eshey Reeshia Kolai Pragmatic and logical, Eshey is Pombe's second apprentice, after Isabel Novak. Prior to joining Octan, she was a popular deejay and an absolute beast on the turntables. She applied to Octan, because she wanted a more stable income. She was taken on by Pombe as a temporary hire, despite not having any previous corporate industry experience, because she showed up at the job interview in Octan regulation approved attire. She initially showed promise as an explorer, but has since been disappointing to Pombe, having demonstrated paranoid and hostile behavior to all alien lifeforms, being labeled as "hard" during collaborative exploration missions with Ava Gato, a Kawashita inter-corporate relations officer, which Pombe interpreted as "being difficult", and just not understanding the situations as well as Eshey's new colleague, Normal Guy, who gives her the heebie jeebies. Despite these failings, Eshey has proven to be a remarkable sharpshooter. She has since become a permanent hire, as part of Octan's response to the alien fleet threat from Andromeda's core. She also has a huge crush on Octan engineer, Big Z. Ethel Alkylhal Originally from Mitgard, where she grew up on a farm and developed animal husbandry skills, she failed to find employment as an adventurer there and ended up wandering the spaceways looking for a job. She initially was turned down for the temporary hire position as Pombe's apprentice, which was given to Eshey, because Ethel showed up to the interview in her traditional Mitgardian attire and not something Octan regulation approved. Due to the alien fleet crisis, Pombe reached back out to her and offered her a permanent position on his exploration team. Her preferred armaments are her trusty battle axe and shield. Ethel tends to distrust technology and is extremely vulgar. She also loves to eat sausages. Hombre Sue Damoness Sue was an ace pilot with Galaxy Squad's red team, having tallied numerous combat kills against the invading buggoid aliens. She was discharged honorably after deciding to leave Galaxy Squad after a certain incident. Immediately, she was courted by potential employers who wanted her skills as a pilot, but she decided to take up Pombe's offer, due to her intuition regarding Pombe's personal agenda: she didn't think he had one. Astute, but laid back, she often just goes with the flow in daily situations, but her habits learned from the military crop up from time to time with regards to adherence to protocols. She does take piloting seriously and enjoys the freedom that Pombe gives her regarding piloting decisions for the team. Normal Guy The newest member of the Pombe's exploration team, Normal Guy just sort of showed up one day and started following the crew around the Axle. Pombe, with his keen sense of observation, noticed this, and realized that he needed to help find Normal Guy a girlfriend, so Pombe brought him onto the team. Since then, Normal Guy has been an indispensible member of the team, completely understanding the nature of the exploration situations and assisting Pombe better than anyone else. While the other team members seem unnerved by Normal Guy's presence, Pombe's high praise of Normal Guy have led them to keep their thoughts to themselves. Kawashita Ava Gato A Kawashita inter-corporate relations officer who shared Kawashita technology with Octan alongside Kawashita engineer Alexander Vandangant. Ava also stayed aboard the Axle and worked with Eshey on exploration assignments for a while when Pombe was busy debriefing a Kawashita marketing and sales team on Jurin II. Competent and honorable, Ava assisted and followed Eshey's instructions, highly praising Eshey to Pombe upon his return. She has since returned to Kawashita to continue her other assignments. M.A.N.T.I.S. Isabel Novak/Sammy Nelly Typhi Deceased. Sammy Nelly Typhi was a M.A.N.T.I.S. special operations agent who infiltrated Octan as apprentice explorer, Isabel Novak, to get close to the famous explorer Wick Nole, even though he's an engineer, to learn Octan corporate secrets. Instead, she was assigned to Pombe, where she languished for two years under his mentorship. Finally having had enough, she used a special Octan exploration assignment to fake the death of her alter ego and to head back to M.A.N.T.I.S. space to report of her failure. Unfortunately for her, her spaceship had a malfunction due to the engines being only attached by a single stud, and she was forced to crash land on the planet of Xerillian. Pombe found the remains of her wrecked spaceship and sent a report back regarding Isabel's status. Octan special forces agent, Jebediah O'Reilly, and his team were dispatched to take care of Sammy once and for all, ensuring Octan secrets would not make it back to M.A.N.T.I.S.. Pombie A natural leader with an eye for talent, Commander Pombie is the head of an elite crack special operations team for the M.A.N.T.I.S. corporation. She has gained a reputation for taking employees that would otherwise be considered misfits and outcasts, identifying their talents, and molding them into terrifyingly efficient operatives. Her leadership style is brutal and cold, but nevertheless, her team are completely loyal to her because she took the time to identify and acknowledge each of their individual aptitudes after they were dismissed by others. Her brother, Pombe, is an explorer for the rival Octan corporation. Cassandra A powerful psychic with the ability to take over and control the bodily actions of multiple minifigures at once. She acquired this ability as a test subject during one of Big Sal's "employee weaponization" projects for M.A.N.T.I.S., but was rejected and discarded because she did not develop the ability to shoot lasers out of her eyes, or mouth, or hands...or from anywhere really. Unwanted and suffering from depression, she dwelled in the basements of M.A.N.T.I.S. corporate buildings, subsisting on vending machine food, sleeping in conference rooms, and showering in gym locker rooms, until Pombie discovered her by chance and recognized her talent and brought Cassandra onto her team. Since then, Cassandra has been utterly and completely loyal to Pombie, referring to Pombie as "mistress" and obeying her commands without question. Neko-chan A girl who is half minifigure and half cat alien. She grew up with her mother, and never knew who her father was. Because of her beauty and lithe gracefulness, she was hired by Kawashita to be a spokesmodel for their products. She proved to be hugely popular with Kawashita's customer demographic, driving up Kawashita profits astronomically through her marketing efforts. Despite the success and fortune she earned as a spokesmodel, deep down, Neko-chan felt exploited by the Kawashita corporation, who she felt only wanted to use her for her looks. Really, all she wanted to do was to hit others with her huge and impossibly heavy hammer, which is she able to produce out of seemingly nowhere. One day, she ran away from home, and fled to the Andromeda Galaxy, where she felt no one could find her and she could hit anyone she wanted with her hammer. Unfortunately, she quickly used up her fortune dining on fish expensively exported to Andromeda and became destitute. Neko-chan was discovered in the slums of Torresta by Pombie, who recognized her talents, and offered her employment where she could hit people with her hammer. Neko-chan happily accepted and has been loyal to Pombie ever since. Simon...I mean, Mephistopheles, lord of the 1337 H4XX0Rs A geeky and awkward teenager who was recognized as a prodigy in computer programming early on. Unfortunately, his abrasive personality, combined with his social awkwardness, led him to being kicked out of one team to the next. Pombie took him onto her team realizing that she needed his talent, but was initially unsure of how her team would handle him. Being a hormone driven teenage boy, he, of course, was caught trying to peep on the attractive girls of the team, Cassandra and Neko-chan. However, instead of having to issue some sort of disciplinary action, Pombie realized that the ladies could handle themselves. Cassandra simply made him punch himself in the genitals repeatedly until he passed out and Neko-chan destroyed the harddrives with his porn collection with her hammer. Since then, he's behaved himself and so long as he's referred to by his proper name, he'll follow Pombie's commands. Oddly enough, he has shown no interest in either Commander Pombie nor the other woman on the team, Scooter. Scooter Scooter is the team's pilot, though she wasn't originally trained as a pilot. She started out as a low level M.A.N.T.I.S. administrator, dealing with employee training documents. Quiet and awkward, she mostly just kept to herself and did her job. An avid videogamer, anime and manga junkie, and dedicated cosplayer, she was just working to support her hobbies. She was reassigned to Andromeda and during her trip out, she was incidentally placed on the same shuttle as Pombie. During the journey, the pilot of the shuttle had a sudden heart attack and died. Because of her experience playing space simulators, Scooter recognized the controls of the shuttle and took over and safely navigated the shuttle through a freak asteroid storm. Pombie, amazed at what she saw, commented that Scooter piloted the shuttle "like a leaf on the wind" and promptly offered her a position on her team as a pilot. She has served proudly as the pilot of the team ever since. The Merchant Confederacy Bruce Vayne A Merchant Confederate starfighter pilot whose personal fighter is the T.U.M.B.L.E.R., short for Takeoff Ultra Missile Ballistic Laser Emergency Roustabout, which Eshey mistakes for a missile tank. He operates out of the Betsy May, a light carrier class capital ship, and was out on patrol looking for Zoid slaver activity when he crashed into an asteroid in the Fascini Cluster. Fortunately for him, Eshey and Pombe managed to rescue him and his T.U.M.B.L.E.R. from alien space ducks armed with knives that are indigenous to the asteroid. His alter-ego is Tabman, since he always buys the drinks. Previously: http://www.eurobrick...howtopic=115447 Currently, somewhere in the Fascini Cluster.... There she is! The Betsy May! My home sweet home! We're glad we could help you fly home, Bruce. My thanks again. Drinks are on me once we settle aboard. Fly?!?! He didn't fly!!! He drove off and crashed into over a dozen asteroids that he used as way points to make it all the way back to the Betsy May!!! Of course he flew, Eshey. A famous author once described flight as having the knack of throwing yourself at the ground and missing. What part of "missing" did he accomplish on the way here?!?! Eshey, are you suggesting that you are a better pilot than one who is actually a pilot by profession? Alright, taking off from this last asteroid to make my approach to the Betsy May. Holy avocados. He's going to hit the Betsy May, isn't he? I really can't watch. Octan C.L.A.W., this is the Betsy May. Thank you for recovering our missing pilot. Don't worry, we'll take it from here. We got Tabman and the T.U.M.B.L.E.R.. See, Eshey, there's nothing to worry about. They activated their tractor beam to bring him in. WHY DO THEY LET HIM FLY IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!?! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Aboard the Betsy May.... Urgent message from CEO John Hannibal, sir! Good job on returning Mr. Vayne back to the Merchant Confederacy, you two. Thank you, sir. It was our pleasure. Unfortunately, a new situation has occurred. Three Merchant Confederation awesomnium mining prospectors have been captured by the Zoid and are being held on an asteroid. You need to find them quickly and rescue them. Right away, sir. Any description on how they are dressed? They are dressed in orange mining space suits. I've already had the mechs you requested earlier delivered to the Betsy May. Interesting choice of paint job, I must admit. You already had mechs sent here in case we would need them? Of course, Eshey. I'm always thinking ahead. Anyways, they are ready to be loaded into drop pods. Best of luck and be careful. Hannibal out. There they are. Aren't they something? Why are they painted in jungle pattern camouflage?! I'm surprised you don't know the purpose of camouflage, Eshey. It's to help us sneak up on the Zoid undetected. THERE ARE NO JUNGLES ON THE ASTEROIDS!!! Tsk, tsk, Eshey. What did I say about thinking ahead? Of course there are no jungles on the asteroids. That's why we're bringing our own. Hi kLIk, hONey! Bqllr! My...brain...what...my...brain.... They will drop with us and help us blend in while we sneak up on the Zoid. HOW WILL THEY EVEN BREATH ON THE ASTEROID?!?!?! Don't you know basic biology? Plants produce oxygen that we can breath, and we produce carbon dioxide for the plants to breath. Any elementary school student knows this. They will be able to breath just fine on the asteroid. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Later, in the Fascini Cluster.... There they are. We've found the captured prospectors and their captors. Prepare to drop, team. There we go. They don't seem to have noticed us. Now let's sneak up on them. How is this even working? Wait...A GIANT SHARK ALIEN HAS JUST APPEARED FROM A CREVASSE BETWEEN US AND THE HOSTAGES!!! KILL KILL KILL!!! Rawr! How did the hostages and the Zoid even cross that crevasse? Powering up weapons, targetting the shark.... Stand down, Eshey. Firing your weapons will give us away and endanger the prospectors. It seems like we don't have a choice. We have to... ...jump the shark. WE JUMPED THE SHARK MONTHS AGO!!! You never make any sense, Eshey. I've never jumped a shark before. Anyways, here I go! Rawr? It's official. He jumped the shark. My brain just broke again.... Ha ha! Got you by surprise didn't I, you Zoid slavers! Take that, and that, and that! Thank you, for saving us! I thought I was going to die! I can't thank you enough! My hero! How will I ever repay you? That's easy! Buy Octan! YES, SIR! Rawr! Pombe to Betsy May: we've located and rescued your missing prospectors. Please send a shuttle to these coordinates. Copy that, Pombe. Thanks again for saving our crew. Tabman has ordered extra rounds for you. Team, we'll stay here until the prospectors are safely away on the shuttle. Rawr! Your name is Sherman and you're a dentist? Nice to meet you, I'm Pombe and this is my team. Do you take Octan dental insurance? Next: More pics under the spoiler tag. Comments and criticisms are all welcome! Edited March 23, 2017 by pombe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kodan Black Posted October 11, 2015 That Betsy May seems to take the opposite of pombe's stealth approach! Amazing story as always, the bit about plants making oxygen was my favorite part. I like the side view, reminded me of old side-scroll Nintendo games! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bony_em Posted October 11, 2015 Very nice history ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jody Meyer Posted October 11, 2015 of course another great build, have to agree about the plant and oxygen part , great job as always Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpacerSteve Posted October 11, 2015 Great story. Pombe is truly a master of disguise. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mediumsnowman Posted October 11, 2015 Another great build and story pombe! I love the part where Eshey says "WE JUMPED THE SHARK MONTHS AGO!" :roflmao: Just wait till EpilsonEta takes a look at this... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dannylonglegs Posted October 11, 2015 Awesome build! the story is hilarious! That shark jumping! I really love the Betsy May! the shape, the hot pink, it's all great! Just wait till EpilsonEta takes a look at this... A reality warper did it. ~Insectoid Aristocrat Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrcp6d Posted October 11, 2015 Love the shark jumping reference! I'll echo the side-scrolling comment above, was that intentional? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EpsilonEta Posted October 11, 2015 Just wait till EpilsonEta takes a look at this... I stopped question Pombe's builds long ago. (The best explanation is probably that he was kidnapped and drudged by those “sales agents” long ago. But then he couldn't know about the Zoid and Merchant Confederacy . Lets just say he have a very vivid imagination ) What I mostly noted upon was why they didn't just go around the shark (I know what jumping the shark means, tvtropes have kept my up many long nights). Anyway, I made the explanation myself: Why aren't we just going around the shark? Because the build is only 8 studs wide. Sometimes I think you just aren't paying attention. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pombe Posted October 12, 2015 I'll echo the side-scrolling comment above, was that intentional? I wanted to give a sense of progression, so you could see the characters walking along over time. It just turned out that this was the best format. I also wanted a shot that would really make the shark jumping scene stand out, and again, this ended up being the best of the choices I gave myself. What I mostly noted upon was why they didn't just go around the shark (I know what jumping the shark means, tvtropes have kept my up many long nights). Anyway, I made the explanation myself: Why aren't we just going around the shark? Because the build is only 8 studs wide. Sometimes I think you just aren't paying attention. HA HA! I wish I had thought of that! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
goatman461 Posted October 12, 2015 the crazy acid trip that is a pombe build is in full effect here. i like the video game vibe you get from the narrow base. the mech legs are a bit goofy but I never know how much of that is intentional because it always fits so well with your stories. they do look perfect jumping over the shark. the betsy may is really well done, i'm really kicking myself for forgetting to add the tumbler to the background of my build, i first forget to build the micro version, then was going to add it to the dialogue, but... damn. feel free to yellow hannibal in the future, and keep it up, you'll be CEO very soon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EpsilonEta Posted October 12, 2015 ...and keep it up, you'll be CEO very soon Pombe and Big Sal as CEOs?! Poor Andromeda What is Kawashita going to counter with? Koro? (he is currently Third Branch Executive and on a secret mission to kill of all our 0 build employess ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Umbra-Manis Posted October 12, 2015 Ridiculously funny build as usual! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andromedas Gates Posted October 13, 2015 The judges awarded you 5 points. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
