Eh a little late. but what can ya do? *shrugs*

[Dawn]

5 years ago I was on a comicbook rpg forum.
After putting up bios, going through approval processes, and starting threads with friends who brought me to the board, and new friends I'd met there, the administration jumped into the chat and whined and moaned and threatened to take the board down.
I was angry.
I'd put allot of time and writing and work into that board, and the guy was going to hit the delete button, supposedly giving us a week to copy/paste anything we wanted to keep. (In reality we had less than 24 hours... and we still have what little we scrapped from that board in the archives on the old board.)
Furious, I went off to my best friend of the time, Violet, ranting and running my mouth about being capable of putting such a board up, and having a more pure (IE: NO MOVIE VERSE BULLSHIT) format just for comicbooks.
Having admin and staffed a few boards by this time herself, she told me she could help, we could have it up in a couple hours.
2 hours later, the original ComicFun! board was born.
At the time it was co-admin me and RavenHex, with our first moderator Superman.
We didn't have too many members. Ironman and myself are the players still left from the earliest days.
It was a very different time.
I was still learning how to text-based rpg, and now I was also on the fast track to learning how to RUN one.
As I was actively advertising, we got allot of hits, and ALLOT of character turn over.
Things were always busy for me. I met so many people, made friends. And I have made enemies here.
I have seen so many come and go.
I've seen my 2 closest in person friends explode on eachother through RP here, and leave me and the board, and here it is years later, and the rift is still between them in the real world.
I've met people on the board across many miles, and spoken to them over the phone, or even met them in person.
I have received many gifts from everyone in some form or anything, be it physical, Internet posts, or just the feelings themselves.
I have had Internet hacking wars, the board being quite literally a battlefield.
I have had public love-fests a plenty....
I have stopped and delete bickering from the cbox... Cleaned out entire vehement fights there as well. Oh but you gotta love that fresh cbox scent... like lemons.
I have run here to get away from the pain of the real world.
I have run from here to lick my wounds, at times thinking I'd never be able to bring myself back.
I have stirred up drama in play, quelled drama between players, and seen every single one of us go through highs and lows together, in and out of play.
I have watched writers develop the skill and work hard over the years to turn into talented writers and star players.
I have seen us drop, or kill characters that didn't work out in this format, and seen us bring others back to life just for it.
We've been so over populated that restrictions would be put in to keep the balance, and we've lost allot of players in turn. We've even moved house to a new board.
I have watched our seasons change.
Our year wheel continues to turn again.
About 3 hours ago, the board turned 5 years old.
5 years.
I... really can't believe it's managed to make it this long.
RPG boards like this are a dime a dozen, or even less.
Some go up and don't even get off the ground.
Most that do get off the ground have a shelf life of 6 months before dying off.
ComicFun! has never run the pace of other boards.
We never rush members to post, things do seem to drag at times, and at others they tend to speed up to tons of activity.
But ComicFun! has been active in it's ways for 5 years now.
I don't advertise anymore. We don't attract much 'new blood' now a days.
But we are still an active board.
I am very proud of all of you.
ComicFun! is still here, after 5 years, because you guys are here.
I created this universe for us to play in.
You populate it. You keep it spinning.
Even in times when I am not able to be here, you have kept things going so I still have a universe of my own to return to.
I thank you all.
5 years.

It really is amazing.

Happy Birthday ComicFun!

[Hawkeye]

;D HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ALL of CF!!! ;D

I have to say, in the time I have spent playing here, on this website, I've had the most fun I've had on an RPG.

Here, you have to get in and actually think... no 3 word posts... but you need to use your head, set the schene, and manuever your charrecter into position. You don't have to fear any mallicious postings from the Mods, be overwhelmed by so many charrecters you don't know who's who, or just get warmed up to it when it finally dies.

I'm kind of regretting not joining earlier.... but the pictures of Ravenhex kinda... scared me.

Now... lets go get shitfaced!

[Spiderman]

....Wow....5 years....

That's a concept that has never come my mind. And yet, here we are.

It's hard to believe that 5 years ago, I stumbled onto a random bulletin post on a comic book-based myspace group. And that bulletin led me to a whole new world that I never expected to encounter. A actual living world (figuratively speaking), constintly changing and evolving, all controled by other die-hard fans with wild fantasies and unmeasured creativity. And more importantly: this was my first rpg experience outside of a video game. EVER!

But boy I'll tell ya, the minute it hits you, your hooked. From the moment I appeared out of nowhere in a thread that no one thought a guy like me would appear in, it became an instint blast. It gave me the chance to express all the ideas and daydreams and untapped creativity I had inside me. It gave me a chance to control some of my favorite fictioual characters, and explore what they could do in ways no one expected (though some not entirely amused by).

I feel seasoned and wiser since then. I have made incredible friends, and I have made bitter enemies. I've seen venom spewed, explosions hitting, characters change hands and disappeear, threats on person and on board alike, and even Gods fall. I've witnessed greatness in storytelling come in all forms, huge stories with deepth and creativity that dwarf the Big 2, and a whole universe crafted through brilliants and devotion.

I, myself, have gone through significant changes too. I've been a navice writter, a trusted confidant, a seasoned writter, a man of power and postion, an enemy and a pariah, and even father of my own worlds. And it was all achieved right here.

I swore that I would stay here until the day this board dies, and it looks as if I may be here for some time longer. And honestly, I couldn't be more excited!

Happy Birthday Comic Fun! May this beautiful world live to see a decade of greatness.




And p.s....

Really, Dawn? Just you and Iron Man? I'd almost be insulted if your speech wasn't so well spoken. ;p

[Dawn]

Hehehe sorry Spidey, you do have a point.
When you signed up, we were only a week and a half old.

Can't say I've ever been that good with dates.

But I won't forget the day you joined.

Our second moderator, Venom (not our current Venom) had started a plot called the Vault.
Since we had no Spiderman to start with, I used the character as a tool to keep Venom in line...

And you signed up, and created my first 'what the hell is fair here?' situation...
When I saw Spidey and approved the App, I jumped into PM letting you know your character was PRE-involved in a set plan/thread.

Feeling it could drive a new member away, But feeling I had little choice as the stuff was already wrote, I sat in shock as your reply to my pm explaining all the special circumstances was only one line.
I can't remember that one line exactly to a T... but it was something along the lines of: "Isn't that how things go in the comics?"

And instantly, you jumped into the role we had put Spidey in, and you played it out, no complaints... and allot of fun for all of us.

Since I modded you with another player, later on, I tend to lump you into the second generation of the board.

But you only became mod for the second generation. You have been here since things started.
Even been here a couple months longer than Ironman.

It's just hard to remember every last detail in 5 years.

[Iceman]

Hey hey looks like it is my turn let me begin at the beginning. When I first join I was in a bad place in my life and needed something to take my mind away from it. My and my long time girlfriend we on the ropes and I was trying to keep things together. Like Spidey I also found the board through Myspace and this was also my first RP site.

I was really rough in the board and messed up a lot but I was able show I had promise to get better somehow lol. During this period my girlfriend told me she was seeing someone else and all my accounts but one got locked I was hurt and frustrated and felt like I was being singled out. The truth was I wasn't but I couldn't see that at the time.

I believe around this point I deleted all my accounts but Iceman and almost left the board. Taking some tome off the board I started talking to our Superman and he helped to open my eyes. After hitting a emotional rock bottom I was able to pull myself together. That's when I reached out and got the help I needed from Dawn That thread with Iceman and Jean was what I needed and my other accounts were slowly unlocked starting with the Joker.

My big turn came when Batman wrote a thread about improving post with that I was able to see what I was doing and was to improve. I have gotten better but I still can improve and I am always trying to do so. I have had highs and lows on the board I've learned that it is a good idea to work with the board and it is sometimes better to wait and do things right rather than to rush out a mess.

Dawn and Spidey were the first to I worked with and then Hex. To Spidey I say I am very sorry man hopefully we can work out a thread here soon back then I was still finding my way . Dawn I can never truly say how grateful I am to her for having the patience of a true goddess with me. I am very happy I was able to be here then and now.

I can't explain how good it makes me feel when I hear that my post are liked I feel like I am on cloud nine. I try my best to to make each post strong I also try to keep up with as many of the threads that are going on.I have no idea of how long will be be on the board but as far I can see I will be here a for as long as you'll have me.

So in parting I will say happy 5th to all and ComicsFun Forever!!