[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] anton1792 I don't see how that justifies your trampling of it now, unless you are saying here that you have essentially just been trolling all along and haven't meant any of it. However you probably do mean it.[/quote] I prefer 343i's approach to the [i]Halo[/i] universe over Bungie's, but that's not to say I dislike the latter - the opposite, in fact. Indeed, between 2008-2010 I wrote a 337 page fan fiction serving as a 'Halo 4,' in effect, before we knew the series would continue. It's full of your 'ideal-realism,' and if the writing weren't so average (I [i]was[/i] only 13 when I started it) you'd probably enjoy it over 343i's work, since the simplicity of the story is something you seem to want. I'm not so much trolling as playing devil's advocate. To some extent I do believe the things I say, but usually as well I'm arguing to see how others will justify their own viewpoints rather than just saying 'Traviss is terrible' or '343i have ruined Halo.' I think I'm one of the rare individuals who loved Bungie's work and loves 343i's work, so really I'm a bigger fan of [i]Halo[/i] than you are. That you automatically assumed my light parody of Nylund was an attack on you demonstrates that you view yourself as somewhat of a 'fanboy' of his work and anything pre-343i simply because it is that, otherwise you wanted have been so wounded by my little joke about him. When I read your 'written by Karen Traviss' I had a good laugh because you were right (I didn't know you wrote it to insult me, which is pretty stupid), that is the sort of typically bleak thing she would write and every author can be predicted in that way - to go back to your [i]Game of Thrones[/i] analogy (I've read all the books by the way, love it to bits) you wouldn't buy a [i]Halo[/i] book by G.R.R Martin and then complain that it's not optimistic and light-hearted. This is just how these authors are. I think Traviss' style works for post-war Halo, that's my personal opinion. Her AIs are brilliant and her dialogue is very well-penned (laughed out loud a fair few times, like when Vaz is looking at Mal's Mantis and says he ordered a few collar sizes too big, and then Mal replies with 'I'll wear a jumper underneath it' - maybe that's because she's English like myself, so I can identify with her humour and dry, faux-bleak writing style .) But you get way too antagonistic for me to have a proper discussion with this about, and before you spout some Latin crap at me ('wah, ad hominem's poisoning this virginal well of objectivity') keep in mind that you threw the first stones, by implying I'm just a 'pseudo-intellectual' and getting in my face, so to speak, about why I like this series and why I'm here. [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] the real Janaka I saw it as light sarcasm, though we were just having a bit of fun at the expense of the Authors by parodying their styles? [/quote] I was (making fun of Nylund's invincible heroes and portrayal of Halsey as a Mary Sue, and Dietz' overall complete lack of ability as an author (has anyone else read his Mass Effect novel with Kai 'eat your cereal in revenge' Leng? It's one of the worst things I've ever read), but it's pretty clear now that he wasn't.