Believe it or not

[Amanroth]

I think we all can say that this forum changed or affected our lives in some way. After all, we wouldn't really be here after all this time, reminiscing with old members and old friends if it hadn't.

I just want to let you know, in (hopefully) few words, what originally brought me here and what it meant to me to be a part of this community.

As some of you may vaguely remember, I joined DBZGTLegacy forums as SSJ4Vegetto back in 1999 or 2000, or maybe 2001... Can't remember, doesn't matter. I joined because the DBZGTLegacy site was a great pull for DBZ information, and I had a penchant for reading and becoming immersed in things I found fascinating. At the time, my older sister had got into DBZ. SHE joined this forum, and while I can't remember her original handle I know some of you got to know her as Ryojinbito. (She's married to a Dutch guy now with 4 baby girls... No it isn't FF). I later changed my name to Amanroth, and joined (and SLAYED) the DBZ RPG we had going on. Now... maybe my post count speaks for the quality of my compositions, but what can ya do when you're an attention-hungry teenager.?

Anyways, I didn't really like DBZ THAT much... not like my sister did. She was obsessed because Vegeta and Piccolo were SO HOT. I liked it a little bit... I liked it as much as any kid would like something their 2 year older -much cooler- sibling would like. But because of my desire to learn and know, I ended up getting way more into it than she ever did. I eventually got more into it, but because of explosions and whatnot.

I'll be honest with you guys, and myself for a moment though... I truthfully 100% believe that I got as into DBZ and other animes as I did, because of THIS COMMUNITY. Not because DBZ is inherently great... I got into debates I could never win with people who memorized the manga and knew how "THAT SCENE WHERE PICCOLO FLICKS HIS BOOGER IS ALL FILLER." Like *... the boy in me who loved to argue never died, so I would be happy to play Devil's Advocate, but truth is these guys were just way more into it than I was... But hey, I was learning every time that happened, and also experiencing the camaraderie.

Another little bit of honesty, I didn't have a lot of friends growing up. I consider the friends I have now to be good ones, but I often hear of people talking about their high school or middle school friends that they're besties with to this day. I never had that experience. I had chums, pals, but one of my best friends from high school is completely MIA (maybe he joined the army... I get the feeling he doesn't want to be found though), and the others aren't too far but we also aren't very close... Some of the relationships I formed here were more real than anything I ever experienced in real life. Friends like Sike Oh, Mr. T, Gemma (can't remember your forum name haha I'm sorry), and others who are sadly not here anymore (and some who are) were more than what anyone in my home town was to me. *... I don't even have a lot of friends now. I'm still a big loner... But online, even if I annoyed the * out of every single person, I felt heard and I felt smart, and I felt like maybe in this smaller commune I had something constructive to contribute occasionally.

I recently got back from a trip to Japan. I spent a month there. I didn't really think about DBZ at any point before I left, but after I arrived I realized how prevalent Dragon Ball still is in their culture. When I got back home I was under quarantine for 2 weeks due to COVID-19, and all I could think was that I wish I could have been back there again. I LOVED IT. It brought be back to all those member berry feelings I felt when I was on this forum, when I was watching DBZ, discussing power levels... As I look back, maybe it's just the nostalgia of having no responsibilities, having parents alive and ruining my life, all the good stuff about being a kid... But I really do believe there was something special for me about this forum, and I imagine for many it really was one of the only ways for us to reach out and have a social life that felt meaninful.

When I got back, I spent TWO WHOLE WEEKS watching Dragon Ball Super. It's HORRIBLE! Or is it? I dunno man, I got some entertainment value out of it, but let's face it... it's bad. Maybe GT bad. But now I've purchased DBZ Kakarot for PS4 (I never play games anymore) and I've downloaded Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT (My Canadian existence meant finding these programs pre-DVD was nigh improbable) and started actually watching the original Dragonball for the first time EVER... I've purchased several of the Japanese Daizenshuu editions off Amazon used, and I CAN'T READ JAPANESE. I'm riding this high until August when quarantine is over, my interest spike in DB has completely dispersed, and I'm probably no longer checking on here again.

I just wanted to say that, from the bottom of my heart, each and every member of this forum MEANS something to me. The history of this forum will always be a bigger part of who I am than I would have ever realized before now, and certainly more than I would ever admit to anyone IRL. That, and I'm sorry for how long and disjointed this post has become... I've actually been thinking about this for a few weeks now. I was active on this forum for at LEAST 6 good, solid years, and intermittently a lot longer than that. This was a relationship, and in a sense one of the longest I've ever had. Thank you all for everything.

[SuperV]

I feel so much of this, it's borderline upsetting... except... this was my side-forum

I still remember a bunch of people from here, and you Amanroth, and while it was my first DBZ/Anime forum, it wasn't my "Home". Mine was on a forum called DBZ-Fan, later Omni-Fan and Incred.net and Geekhood... until they all went down and we started a small Facebook group. Forums were my LIFE. I didn't have real friends in High school either, I had online people.

I found this forum after watching DBZ one day, and having dabbled in forums previously. I still remember the sheer excitement of Kiri making me a yellow/green sig of Vegeta and kid Trunks. I never told her I wanted FUTURE Trunks, and I didn't complain. That may have led me into making sigs and photoshop later too (even though I've mostly given it up), it was a HUGE part of who I was on forums.

I've watched a lot of my online "friends" go and do amazing things. One runs an english school in Japan, one works/ed for RoosterTeeth(?), one does storyboard and writing for CARTOON NETWORK. And here I am, working retail and not accomplishing a * thing. We all have different paths in life, but *.

Anyways, not to derail and take over your thread. Forums were my life and a huge part of me too. It get it. 100%

[Amanroth]

No derailment at all, V! I thought that was a great addition to what I said. I never meant for this to be a "let me cut my heart open and bleed all over the page" type of posts but when you get into a state of flow, things happen.

Frankly,i just can't believe you cheated on us. I'm hurt. Haha actually I seem to recall Dbz-Fan or Omni-fan also, but I don't believe I was a member. I think I would sometimes browse other forum conversations to see if I could learn any new angles or perspectives for DBZ debating.

Your comments actually bring up stuff I had forgotten as well. I can't remember who made my first Sig and avatar for me but I remember being tickled pink at the quality. I also remember it wasn't EXACTLY what I pictured which somehow prompted me to pick up a pirated copy of Photoshop (wanna say PS6 or 7 had just come out at the time). While I was never very good at making them, I did make a few banners for people and learn a lot. I became a self-taught event poster designer for my company after that.

Your last paragraph hits me right in the feels. It's amazing you know some people who went on to have that level of success. I myself can't think of anybody from the online world who did big things, but I see a lot of Kiri's artwork on FB and Baka's bike tours, and it seems a lot of people are living. That's great to see and it always makes me happy, but I feel like I wasted my own potential in a way. My brother in law's brother (yes a mouthful) runs a game company in Toronto (Blue Isle Studios), which was literally my DREAM job as a teen. Now I work in what is essentially a manufacturing shop, and my entire adult life has been labor jobs. I did go to college and start a business, but it got to be too much when my parents passed away. After that, coupled with 7 years of not turning a profit and being stepped on by the music industry, I walked away from it with only the memories and experiences. Not for nought of course, but I remember being a wide eyed teenager and being told the world was my oyster haha.

[SuperV]

Oh, I was a huge forumslut back in the day. In fact, I even did a stint on the Legacy replacement forums too...

DBZ/Omni-Fan was big into fan-fics, though I got into it because they had a large collection of DBZ images and cells to steal for sigs. I stole the sig contest idea from here and did a few over there (never did well myself though...). I remember a specific day where I was confusing members on both boards (these were the only two I was on at the time), and they were the one I "choose". I still came to Legacy frequently, but wasn't my first stop. It also helped most people there were AIM users and Legacy was big into MSN... unless I'm thinking of a different board.

I still do some graphic design around my job too, when need-be. I did a few basic images for our website (which I was tasked with running too...). We've had a few banners made by a "professional" graphic designer, and I'm always the most critical of her work I cringe every time someone in-house makes something and uses 4 fonts, different alignments, contrasting styles.... and then sends it out to the public.

I remember being told the same thing, but never really knowing where I wanted to go in life. I went to college, dropped out, went back, got my degree, but never had a goal in mind. I knew I wasn't a good enough player to make it in the extremely limited national/global scene, and the service bands could have been okay if it weren't for the whole military aspect. I have done some limited gigging, but nothing steady. Now I have a family and an (okay) job, and moving to a potentially more fruitful area just doesn't seem worth it.