He’s part of the brainchild that has spawned some of Freedom Force’s most popular and hugest sites such as FXForce, Gamma Patrol of Lichtenstein (GPL), and, of course, the original Freedom Reborn Productions (FRP). Also known for his FXing ability, MikeB7 is also considered to be one of the pillars of the Freedom Reborn community.  Now that we dragged him out of hiding, FRP2 shines its spotlight on MikeB7 to see if CoH still has a hold on his heart.

FREEDOM FORCE

How did you learn about the game Freedom Force and its community?

I saw the ad they put in comics; it was pretty exciting.  As my working life was ending, I spent more time web-surfing.  After a few days of lurking on the old Crave boards, I wanted to be a part of these fun and creative people.  My first post was a skin of DC’s Amazing Man, and [I] was welcomed right away with support and encouragement.  Just very, very cool.

MikeB7 and nipple hoses seem to be terms that are synonymous with each other. What’s the concept behind your avatar and why is he so fond of nipple hoses?

CHEST CABLES.  They’re… CHEST… CABLES!!!

There really was no concept behind my avatar, lol.  I’d been in the community for a little bit, had started up an itty-bitty very simple web page made in Windows Notepad, and wanted something to represent myself even if I didn’t have an idea.  I posted this, mentioning that I had a beard and had been a lifeguard IRL, and the skinner Firestorm shot back with an avatar.  I was so overwhelmed with gratitude; I didn’t even mind that he was wearing shorts.  Until the next day, when I minded that he was wearing shorts.  I timidly asked about that and Firestorm changed it to pants, no problem – and there was my avatar.  That kind of helpfulness and openness to a relative newcomer was inspiring as hell.

Firestorm put the… CHEST CABLES… in.  Then one person called them ‘nipple hoses’ and it became a *thing*.  I stress chest cables because that’s how the character would be objecting, but I think it’s hilarious.  Glitch Girl even sent me homemade nipple hoses one year for Christmas!  Best present ever – they’re still on my bookcase.

You’re the site owner of FXforce, which is a one-stop shop for all things fx related for FF1, correct? What is it that got you into FXing?

I wanted to be a skinner but didn’t have enough artistic talent to make them as good as they appeared in my head.  But I did have some technical talent and a lot of curiosity.  Only a few FX had come out at this point (KennX, Glitch Girl and Gryphon are the people that come to mind) and I saw an untapped market where I could contribute.  It soon became much more – it was a lot of fun trying to figure out how to modify what effects in the game to get the intended result.  The challenge was a real draw.  Then a few more people started trying FX and I offered to go all out and make a site for FX, like Electric Freedom or the Skindex were for skins.  It was a blast back then; FXing was brand new, and we were bouncing ideas off each other and releasing at an insane rate–site updates every other day.  Along the way, we expanded to include hexes (pre-nifskope mesh altering) and maps.

Although it may be hard to remember, what would you say is your best, or most difficult to create, FX?

Looking through the site, I’d have to say the best FX was dead_mjb_throw because, well, look at it.  You throw a dead MJB at people.  That’s like every child’s dream.

The most difficult ones came later, when hexing sizes and adding/removing came into play.  I spent many hours experimenting with hexing, so FX like solar_neutralizer or the MB7bolt were the hardest because it took so much trial and error.  They weren’t modifying textures associated with a nif; they were modifying the nif itself.  Those are probably ones I’m proudest of because of the technical aspect.

You stopped FXing shortly before FFvTTR came out, iirc. Why did you decide to quit making SFX for the game?

It was a combination of things.  I’d done hundreds of FX at that point – for the site, for mods, for individual people. There were fewer and fewer ways of making something *new*; the challenge was drying up.  FFvTR, we weren’t sure how FX were being handled, and I wasn’t interested in redoing the bulk of FF1′s fx or learning a whole new system.  And I know I would’ve felt the need to provide them, so it would’ve been less of a fun experimenting and more of a chore.  Add in the site troubles I was having with GPL and FRP, webmastering in general was losing it’s appeal.  It was just the best time to end things, being on the top of your game.

All your site projects seem to have an emphasis on groups. Is there a reason behind this or was it just pure coincidence?

There’s a reason, going back to my first post on the boards.  The people in the community made me feel so welcome, gave me a real sense of belonging; I wanted to give others that feeling.  And it was a way to keep people active and around.  So many people were creating cool stuff – whether it be skins, meshes, fx, maps, etc. -; people put more into their creativity when they have a showcase for it, I find.

As an FXer myself, I can honestly tell you that you were one of my inspirations when I began to really get into modding the game. Has anyone from the community motivated or inspired you?

It sounds cheesy, but it’s absolutely true – EVERYONE inspired me.  Someone would release a cool skin or mesh, and I’d just *have* to create an fx for it.  Both as a way of showing appreciation and of subversively glomming myself to it, being a part of it, lol.  Or the case where I loved Electric Freedom as a site and made those goofy ‘Trailer Park’ skins of their members.  I had an Avatar FX thread, both as a way of giving back/keeping the community together and to get inspiration.

Freedom Reborn used to have several forum wide events when Freedom Force was more popular. One of those events happened to be the “Site Wars.” What was the cause of it, and how did it end?

The Site Wars were tremendously fun. I have a horrible memory, but I believe it started during one of the times we moved the boards. It was a simple boasting of, “Look who’s members got here first.” It fueled a friendly rivalry between Volt’s Electric Freedom, Night Dragon’s Dragon Force and G’Daybloke’s H.A.M.S.T.E.R.  Lots of fun trash talking and ribbing on the boards, posting picture stories using in-game manipulated images – I even recorded a diss rap to music that ended up featured in Lude’s forum-based mod.

MikeB7's Diss Rap

So, out of Electric Freedom, Dragon Force H.A.M.S.T.E.R. and FXForce, which site is still around?

FXForce totally won.  Totally.

Taking into account that FRP2 has its anniversary coming up, I figured it’d be nice to go down memory lane. What was the idea that sparked the creation of the original group and, later on, the site?

Originally, FRP wasn’t a site at all – it was just web space to hold the Teen Titans mod I helped with and all the map downloads that were taking up space on FXForce.  Lude, who coded the Titans mod, wanted to do more with the space [and] make an actual mod site – so I handed the keys over to him.  Later on, after Lude left, you took over and with FRP2, you’ve made it so much cooler and *more* than it ever was before.  Even though the only connection anymore is the name, I’m proud to have even that little association with it.  See what I’m saying?  Glomming on to something cool.  Subversively leeching popularity from the shadows!

Unfortunately, both FRP and GPL have found themselves compromised or offline in some form over the past few years. Have these circumstances affected you in any way?

Don’t trust MySiteSpace?  I was really sad about those sites, especially GPL.  That was an awesome undertaking by many, many people.  From the (group designed) theme and concept of the site to the tremendous array of talent assembled and the unique coding by RandyRipoff which allowed members to upload and release content on their own – it was just awesome.  It had too short of a lifespan.  I felt awful for all the skinners who were suddenly homeless.  As i said earlier, the problems with these sites helped in the decision to move away from web hosting.

Although the community continues to be active, there doesn’t seem to be as much emphasis on avatars or role-playing. What would you say were some of the highlights of the community when it came to using avatars?

Obviously, I’d go with Site Wars because I had so much fun with that, but there were a lot more.  There were some Posting Games ongoing stories that were hilarious episodes, like XStream’s Apartment.  The Avatar Skinning Challenges were also great events that people looked forward to and had the forums jumping.  They were always a hoot to contribute to and see what others would come up with.  There always seemed to be little “crazes” going [on] too, whether it was putting avatars in microhero form, sprite form, pony form, gorilla form… there were tons.  The Age of Hellscorp was going to be the largest forumwide event – it had written fiction, full backgrounds of the new timeline, skins – and more was planned, but unfortunately it had to stop; and we had to move on.  I think most remember it fondly though.

Finally, why do you think the community has lasted so long, and do you think it will continue to do so?

I think the community’s still around because it’s a genuinely good group of people who like to have fun and be creative (whether it’s art or wordplay).  A few years (and a few boards) after we started Freedom Reborn, we all realized it wasn’t just about Freedom Force anymore; it was about the friendships, the sense of belonging and the escape.  Even though I don’t post on the board like I used to, I play City of Heroes with people from Freedom Reborn (and only FR people) every single day.  It’s crazy when you think about it – I’ve known some of these people for what – 8? 9 years?  That’s longer than most of my RL friendships.  I think even if the message board were to go away (which I really can’t see happening), genuine friendships have been formed here that will last years and years.  THAT’S a freakin’ community.  :)

MISC.

Freedom Force is a game about heroes, so it’s only right that I ask you this next question. What heroes or comics demand your attention?

Since the relaunch, Green Lantern has been one of my most favorite books ever.  I’m a DC guy these days, so JSA and Flash are always second and third on my pile.  I really like what Mark Waid’s doing at BOOM! studios with Irredeemable.  Fables, Astro City, Criminal, Hellboy, Walking Dead, Powers – there’s a great variety of other books I enjoy too.

Some people like the silver age and others, the modern age. What era do you favor and why?

I was a mostly Marvel fan as a kid in the 80s, with some exceptions like the Teen Titans – but I’d have to go with the modern age as my favorite.  A lot more variety in books, and the DC books have done a great job, IMO, of moving characters forward while respecting their past.  While the traditionalist reader in me doesn’t like Marvel’s universe-wide, status quo-changing, limiting and constricting Civil War thingy, the kid who loved What If? stories will still read Avengers and consider the whole thing a massive What If story and still enjoy it that way.  But the stuff DC’s doing and the wealth of alternative non-hero books just make this era better IMO.

One of my favorite shows on TV at the moment happens to be Psych. What are some shows you’d recommend to others?

I love Psych, too.  Other favorites are Dexter, Lost, Burn Notice, NCIS, Sons of Anarchy, Eureka, and Rescue Me.

If you were to become a real, true to life hero, what type of hero would you be, and what kind of legacy would you hope to leave behind?

Realistically, I don’t think I’d be a public hero.  I’d be a Batman/Shadow style urban legend, staying in the shadows and beating up street thugs.  The legacy would hopefully be a city known for it’s safe streets, where a criminal element wouldn’t even *want* to try anything.

Fads are something we all fall into from time to time. What would you say is one of the worst fads you’ve ever been a part of?

I had Wham! hair.  Total Wham! hair.  It was this giant mushroom top, styled most awesomely on top of my noggin.  Huge.  Wham!  Hair.

Considering the [saddish] state of music today, it’s always nice to know what’s out there. What are some of your favorite bands or singers?

I’m a fan of almost all kinds of music.  Ephemeris and I have a game while playing CoH where we’ll call out the group that’s currently playing on our IPods and others will try to guess the song.  Always fun to hear the strange combos.  My current favorites would have to be more electronic, drum & bass music.  Squarepusher is definitely an all-time favorite.  Plaid, Amon Tobin, and Aphex Twin also come to mind.  Hip-Hop (Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Roots, Pharcyde, Panacea), Classic Jazz (John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Wes Montgomery), and Classic R&B/Soul/Funk (Earth Wind & Fire, Isley Brothers, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Parliament, Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, etc.) are probably what I have the most music of, in that order. More recent R&B (Dwele, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, etc) also takes up plenty of IPod space.

If you were to fall into a web created from words, which three do you think would stick to you to describe you as a person?

Easygoing, funny, strong

If it were possible to have one of your ideas created in any form, what would you want it to be and why?

You know Steadicams for movies and TV?  The camera stays stable even when the operator is moving and bouncing around?  I’d like to see that technology used for car seats.  So when you’re on bouncy roads, the seats stay steady.

You were an avid City of Heroes player at one point. Are you still heavily involved with the game, and do you think it has evolved for the better?

I’m still there, every day, still having a blast.  It’s gotten better and better since I started playing.  I’m mostly City of Villains, but I’ll roll heroes if that’s what other people are playing (currently playing a hero with the gang).  I’ve had so much fun teaming nightly with FR folk, having our own running jokes, themes and goals.  I also love the fact that the game is soloable as well – during the day, I’ll often play at my own pace, going afk to do laundry and whatnot.  They’re updating the game all the time with new features or new free content.  I resisted getting this game for as long as I could – I had a feeling I’d get swept up in it.  And it’s true.  That same obsessiveness that had me creating FX and doing site updates constantly now applies to actually *playing* a game, something I honestly rarely did with FF as I was too busy creating and testing content.

Finally, if you could complete a goal today, what would it be?

I would write that petition to Starbucks for them to open a new 24-hour store in the downstairs laundry room.  If I move some stuff around, there’d be plenty of room for them.  Then I would never be without my ICED VENTI CHAI.

Wow, talk about a flashback, right? So what did you learn about MikeB7? Well, I learned that he can make diss raps like nobody’s business, he wants a Starbucks in his laundry room, and yes, CoH (and CoV) still has his heart. If you want to grab some of MikeB7′s fx, you can grab them at FxForce!