Created by a frustrated Mac Poser 4 user, a serious lack of sleep, and too much spare time.

The story begins...

D'Orque's Distress

D'Orque always enjoyed reading the messages in the forum. He had come to
think of these messages as fan mail. The beautiful Posette, criticized
without mercy and challenged by many pretenders, was still a favorite of
more than one Poser user. Was he jealous that so many user's preferred the
female figure to his? How could he be jealous? Posey was HIS number one fan!

Recently, there had been a frenzy among the Poser users in the forum. Poser 5 was coming, and those who eagerly awaited CL's formal announcement had posted many message threads dedicated to speculation about this latest release. One thread even seemed to suggest that the new release would have characters based on a popular TV show from the 1960's!!! "What! Are we to be replaced by 'Gillligan' and 'Mary Ann'?", D'Orque chuckled.

Still, the insanity in the forum continued. Even worse, Kupa and other CL insiders had begun to stoke the flames deliberately with teasing posts! When D'Orque saw the thread called "Ruby Tuesday", he couldn't resist. "We may no longer be the stars, but how bad can it be?", he thought to himself. This was not the first threat Posey and he had felt. He had stood by his beloved as she suffered the torture of wave upon wave of attack. There had been the scandalous "improvements" calling themselves Mimi, WWG, and Eve, who copied from Posey all they could. "Hah, where are they now?", he thought. To this very day, the P4 People had survived the ongoing campaign of the so-called Millenium People who had won over so many Poser users. There had even been a promising challenger, who seemed to sink under the weight of her own mesh! There had been so many others, too many to name! "Niche market characters, everyone of them!", he boasted aloud.

He remembered that they had been forced to make concessions, even at the beginning of their reign. Default Guy had been given top billing, despite his inability to display any passion or emotion. Most users quickly discovered "Figure"->"Delete Figure", and would rush to the Libraries to load either Posette or D'Orque, the true stars!

In the end, none had posed a credible challenge. "We are the OFFICIAL
Poser People! They may have larger meshes and more morphs, but only WE have
immediate access to every Poser user's workspace!" he crowed.

The present situation was different. Upstarts had been invited INSIDE
his own organization to replace him and his beloved Posette!

I'm enjoying this...hope you keep going

"Putty! Particles!! Firefly!!! What planet do these people come from?"

So he began to read "Ruby Tuesday". And he read. And he read.
"Ruby Tuesday" was a shock - no, worse - a betrayal. The Poser community
was embracing the new characters, Judy and Don!

Now he knew it to be inevitable: EVERYONE would think them obsolete!
Posey and he were to be thrown on the scrap heap like so much ... scrap.

(To Be Continued... if anyone cares!)

redon634, Thanks!! More on the way!!

A Dark Day Indeed!!

Posey arrived to find her proud D'Orque sitting as if he were a defeated champion. Had he been weeping? "Ruby Tuesday" had done this to him!

"Oh, D'Orque," she spoke gently, "our Macintosh users still need us!" He silently nodded in agreement, but thought to himself "... but for how long?"

Poor D'Orque! He'd had only one serious challenger through the years - "Michael". How different could two males be? D'Orque was black-tie even out of his tuxedo. Who would WANT to morph her sweet dear into a hideous elf-demon-gorilla-fairy?

Posey was tougher. She had held the starring role in Poser for YEARS, all the time facing constant criticism: "What a silly smile!" "I don't like her joint parameters!" "Huh? Only 6 breast morphs?" And the list of complaints went on and on. She had suffered this mistreatment by her "fans" while giving them everything she had. She'd even learned to morph and texture herself to play ethnic roles that she could never have possibly been meant to play! It was never enough. She did her best to maintain her professionalism, but on at least one occasion CL insiders reported that she was driven to scream "There would be no Poser without me! If they hate me so much, why don't they build their own models from scratch? It's not so easy to do the hands after all, hmm??"

That's the first "nudity" "violence" flag I've seen used that was appropriate! Keep it up. I'm a Mac guy too. (Mac)Bobasaur

Then there had been the challengers she'd faced down. Most were simply imitators with a new hip, or a regrouped mesh, or with 10000 morphs loaded. "Victoria", and her cousin "Stephanie" were a more serious threat. But, while Posey had appeared in the nude quite often (perhaps even the odd hardcore scene?), she had played the teacher, the trapeze artist, the gymanast, the woman in the formal dress! What depth! What breadth! Vicki seemed to prefer to appear scantily clad in a temple holding a sword, that is, unless she was morphing into some hideous demon-gorilla-fairy-hag! Was Stephanie even a woman? She didn't seem to have any clothes of her own. There was something about Stephanie that reminded Posey of Michael!

Yet she knew that she couldn't stay on top forever. The Poser users demanded more than she could possibly deliver. She had accepted her fate.

(To Be Continued...)

OK. Just a word of warning: if you bring Renderosibee into this I'll scream!

Quel Dommage!

"Hah! Now you know how it feels, you gametes!" Pity was not to be expected from the ones Posey and D'Orque themselves had displaced so many years ago. D'Orque began to rise in anger, but Posey calmed him. "I don't like this any more than you, D'Orque, but we must maintain our dignity!" Posey imagined that from the P2 People's Viewpoint, these recent changes were posetic justice.

I weep for our meloncholy heros. C'mon D'Orque save the day, smite the userpers, smash em and trash em and grind em into do.... Um Uh sorry D'Orque I already ordered P5

AUTHOR"S NOTE: I apologize for the rotten puns in that last post....

PUNish us more!!!!

Keep going with the story, very amusing :)

The Author Runs Out Of Steam If the past is any indicator, then, the P4 People won't disappear from the desktop anytime soon. Imagine... "D'Orque! CL is giving Poser 4 away free! We're doing the cover of 'Digital 3D Computer Art World Monthly'!"

Ahh, the end of the first act. The characters have been introduced, the basis for the conflict is in place. Second act: Build on the conflict. Third act: Climax! And then Resolution. I don't mean that kind of climax. This isn't that kind of temple.

Think About The Future!

Only CL knew how long the Mac Poser users would have to wait. Posey and D'Orque still had their place on that "other" platform, possibly for months, even YEARS!! But then, what...?

Posey remembered how she and D'Orque had enjoyed their early lean days. They could return to comedy, fantasy, superheroes - They WOULD have work! With no more pressure to match every new challenger vertex for vertex, morph for morph, they could begin to enjoy posing again!! No more bending beyond the limits while struggling against all hope to maintain the blend zones! No more Poser users stuffing them with morph after morph! Perhaps things would not be so bad after all...

They could finally be themselves.

I've seen the future and it will be
I've seen the future and it works
If there's life after, we will see
So I can't go... like a jerk."
-- Prince from the "Batman" soundtrack

Yeah, I know, it just kinda ENDED. The good news is I feel sleepy and have no more spare time (but I still have the Mac!!) Thanks for the encouragement, M.

Though I don't like macs, I am a diehard posette/dork user... Posette pour toujours!

'nite, mkdavis.

re post #3: OK who kidnapped the robot from lost in space and replaced him with this imposter? This is 'Robbie the Robot' from Forbidden Planet (circa 1952). all seriousness aside - good work MK. keep it up!! - TJ