I don't think that anyone on the Council was expecting that level 100 would be attained so quickly. In fact, I'm sure that no one on the Council was expecting it. Perhaps it's time to explain a few things, let you users know what this database is all about.

[drops out of character...]

Alright, it's like this. I created this site for several reasons, the first being that no one had done a baddie-themed Strider site on the whole web. Now that I've attempted this, I know why. Turning up pictures of the guys in Light Sword Cypher is about as difficult as figure skating on ice cream. In fact, there's really only one place you can get any good Strider pictures on the web, and that's Bueno's site. Sure, there are other places, but none of them have official art or fanart that's anywhere close to being new. Most of the art they have predates Marvel vs. Capcom.

Which brings me to my next reason for making this site: I've been online since early 1997, and I've seen a lot of Strider sites come and go in that time. [mezzanine's], The Strider Project, NeoStrider's Strider Zone and many others have come and gone, but none have had the kind of content I wanted. I wanted a fan-oriented Strider site, where the fans write stories, draw imagined scenes, CG characters, make their own games, etc. There are a plethora of Dragon Ball sites of this nature on the web; all I wanted was one Strider site like that. The site that most closely attained that ideal, in my mind, was Bueno, yet again. Unfortunately, sometime in the middle of his second year on the web, he got unexpectedly busy and this delayed several fan projects he'd started, most notably Option Zero. The second year is what kills most Strider sites, because it's about that time that they run out of things to update on. Let's face it, the Strider series is not the most popular Capcom series, by any stretch of the imagination. Actual news to report on is rare. This causes many sites to stagnate, and they end up looking like a Pirates of Dark Water page. If you've seen one of those, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's not pretty. Major updates consist of the webmaster notifying the community that merchandise is being sold on eBay, format changes, and the odd picture now and then. Sites like this play musical chairs and vanish.

That's why I made this site. It's fan-oriented, which is what I've wanted from the beginning; and I can update it until fiscal eternity because, if nothing else, I can keep writing fanfics myself. I'm not a bad artist, either, although I'm nowhere near the level of Long Vo or Benjie Coloma. Maybe I'll post one of my fanarts up here...hmm...

But there are other reasons I made this site, too. Like, I made it with the intent that it could be the sole repository for all quality Strider artwork on the web. Note the word "quality." I refuse to put something on here that's sub-par, no matter who does it. If it's fanfiction, I'm going to be your editor; if it's art or CG, I'm going to be your critic. Harsh? Maybe, but guess what? The Strider community is small enough as it is that we don't need piece-of-crap pages floating around. Mostly, the only people who are going to be showing up at these sites are us. Let's make a place we enjoy, that we can participate in, where we can get the art based on our favorite game series of all time. If, by chance, someone new happens to click on a search engine's link and shows up here, let's have something we can all be proud of. Our best, so that they'll want to check the series out, and that in turn will cause more games to be made...it's a self-feeding cycle that few have caught on to. The fans feed the industry with money, which makes more games and feeds them to the fans, who feed the industry more money, and so on ad infinitum.

That's a pretty big goal, and I probably won't succeed in it, but I want to at least give it a shot. I've been collecting Strider artwork since I first got on the web back in '97, and my archive is pretty dang large. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that there's only one person on the entire 'net who has more Strider art than I do, and I know you can guess who that is. Anyway, except for a few GIFs here and there (like that picture NeoStrider had of Hiryu, Sheena, and Kain), I have most of the Strider art that anyone's ever posted. Why not share it? I mean, some of this stuff I've had to wander down back alleys and wrestle away from garbage men to get (figuratively speaking, of course). I think it should all be collected, in one spot, so the fans can find it easily. That's all I'm trying to do with my art galleries. I'm not trying to rip anyone off or steal anyone's readers; I'm only a collector, an archive. Hence the name "The Light Sword Cypher MAINFRAME." Besides, there's so few of us that we bounce from site to site anyway, hoping and praying for an update. I know this first-hand.

Another thing I'd like to do is to host quality fanfiction. Do you guys realize just how many possibilities there are within the Strider universe? Or the Capcom universe, for that matter? For example: do you know what "Tong Poo" means in Chinese? Do you know what a "Ragnarok" really is? How many homages to other series can you spot in the games? I'd love to see fanfiction that incorporates elements inspired by questions like these, and I know that the fans can produce works of great beauty. I've seen some truly amazing things within this community during my sojourn on the net, but the one thing I haven't seen is fanfiction that can run with any of the other Anime series' fanfics. Rise to the occasion, guys! You want a site that can update regularly? Give me materials to update with, and I will.

"How can you be a fan-oriented site when the characters on your site are so anti-Strider?" you may ask. Well, that's called "being in character," and it comes with being a baddie-themed site. I haven't gotten the characters quite defined yet, but when I do, they're going to be more anti-Strider than ever. So if you send me a piece of art, and one of the characters blasts it, check your email before flaming me. More likely than not, I'll have emailed you congratulating you on doing a good job; if there isn't an email there, I probably haven't gotten to it yet. Give it a couple days. But don't assume I'm dissing you just because Scion the character or TR-3Q8 dissed your fanfic you stayed up all night writing. Actually, that's the highest complement you can be paid: when your enemy vehemently hates something you've done, that means you've done it right. I'm not your enemy, but the characters are. Basically, just write it off as sarcasm and bitter irony and everything will line up right.

The final reason that I'm making this site is, basically, to help out one of my friends. He's worked his arse off for three years, supplying the Strider community with news, pictures, and content beyond compare. Since he's fallen on hectic times, I figure the one way I can make things easier on him is by making this site. If I do a fanart/fanfiction-oriented site, then he can focus more on cranking out the news that only he seems to be able to get, as well as working on the fangames he's started, rather than having to worry about updating his art gallery or fixing a broken link just so we'll stop complaining about it. Folks, Bueno's worked harder and done more for the Strider community than anyone else I've seen. The only one who even comes close is Michael Varley, and that's only because he posted those Strider 2 preview videos back in the day. I figure if I can make his life easier in just a small area, then I've repaid a small part of the favor he's granted to all of us. It's the least I, or anyone else in the community, could do.

These are rather grandiose reasons, to be sure, but they're my reasons. I would like to think I'll be able to live up to my own plans for this site, but if there's one thing I've seen on the web, it's that almost nothing lives up to it's own hype. I promise to give it my best shot, the best of my feeble abilities, though. There. I think I'm done now.

[goes back into character...]

...so I really don't think they'll like it too much that so many people have gotten a security class of ETA. Go on, get out of here, before you get me in trouble!

[TR-3Q8]

What is that conundrum I hear coming from your location, Scion?

[Scion]

Scat! Go! *draws cypher*