Rushmore's Whereabouts

... I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Now before you run to your sheds to grab your pitchforks and torches, let me explain myself. Now, I'm not going to bother pretending you didn't expect this, because it was going to happen eventually: the DB community's first and greatest nemesis has returned to haunt them. Though it'd seemed to be a long-shot, but the chance was still there.

Now, for anyone in that dying community is reading this, you might wanna alert the others and direct them to this page, cause I got a LOT to say from my time ex-commanded from that group and "thrown" off deviantART as D-man or Phan/Phillip/Felicia (whatever she calls herself nowadays, I can't keep up) likes to say. So pop some popcorn and find yourself a comfy seat, cause here's what I have to say.

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So you're probably wondering, "Oh, Rushmore! Oh, Rushmore! After all you said and after all you done, why are you here? Why did you come back? Oh, why? Oh, why?" Well, that there is the ten million dollar question. I'm bit of a story-teller so gather 'round.

Now, I'm not here to hurt the community any further, I believe drama and retiring writers has done that enough. Now, I believe it's no secret that I enjoy writing in my spare time. I mean, hell, everyone does enjoy writing stories in some fashion. Whether it's action, romantic comedy, horror, some weird fanfiction that turns certain people. That's what started that entire community, gathering around and write about your favorite fictional characters fighting to the bitter death. I mean, look at what multiple-named Fel said in one of his/her/their journal post exactly three years ago (no, seriously, she wrote this in a journal post April 27, 2014!); and I quote...

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'But here's what I'm not kidding about: we proved our chops as friends and colleagues that day. We might not even know what we look like to the other, we might as well be ghosts, but we stood up together all the same. Keep in mind, many of us have overwhelming differences between us. D-man and Abe are Christian, I'm a hardcore atheist. Edge is the youngest of our group so far, and I'm fairly certain the older among us are in our twenties. This group currently consists of Americans, Canadians and Englishmen. Our fans, likewise, are as diverse. One fan in particular I have come to call friend over the last six months is a Mormon, for Christ's sake, now that forced me to reevaluate my thoughts on Mormons as a group. Collected together - writer and fan - we range from fourteen to twenty four, maybe older. '

'And yet, despite differences in age, philosophy, sexuality, culture and - by God - distance, we banded together... against an upstart little prick who insulted only one or two of us. An upstart little prick who could easily have only been one person's problem, no one else needed to get involved. It wasn't like he was a sincere threat, he thinks The Big Bang Theory is funny (and stealing jokes from that show out of context as part of his weak attempt to wage a flamewar on us? Even funnier). (<-- Hey, I like bongos. Big deal. Plus to be honest, that show is starting to loose it's touch.) Nevertheless, there we were. (<-- To steal my battles? Because that was just low.) Think about it. There is an ocean of difference between each and every one of us, and yet we've bonded and come together as a group of friends and acquaintances... (<-- Truth? Sayian Assassin? Myth? Zac? I could go on.)  Over our mutual love of fictional characters beating the shit out of each other. Fictional characters beating the shit out of each other transcended religion, class and cultural background, philosophy, and the wee fact I'm an open fruit who proudly blathers on about his sexual encounters in Montreal's BDSM community. (<--- *slow clap* Soooo original) Who says fictional violence is a bad thing, if it brought us together as friends? If it served as the foundation for making new, good friends?'

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Bravo, Fel. Now, when it came to the point where it seemed like no one could tolerate me anymore: I had two choices... It wasn't easy, but I founded various other sites where I could publish my works and even improve my writing ability. So I took what felt crushing and humiliating feeling... and closed my own dA account. At first it didn't feel pretty, but after a while I got use to it, and eventually I felt freed. A warm feeling of release from their house of horrors.
 * 1) Leave and find some other site to publish my works.
 * 2) Stay and suffer the soul-crushing status quo of a vengeful community.

I did eventually open various other accounts to other sites, but I was still curious on what was next for the DB community after a ferocious war with that community. So I did once in a while snoop their accounts and saw they had moved on to other drama such as DeathBattleLover, MythKirby, SayianAssassin, Zacmariozero, etc. I mean, jeez, they were just turning on themselves! Quite the domino effect where it eventually lead to the quote-on-quote "closed for repairs" era of the community. I also saw some sad and emotional events like Phanny-it coming out as transgender/genderfluid (I honestly can't remember), and the tragic death of thetruth40 (God rest his soul.)

So, yeah. I even saw the short-lived trend of the "Company Takeover" series featuring me as the main villain, buying of the cosmic booth with StrexCorp (I listen to "Welcome to Night Vale," too! Facts!). Which was bittersweet; and I also saw Dodge's joke account of "RushmoreReturns." Was I honored? A bit. Was I insulted? Meh, at least I'm remembered.

Now back to the question in hand: Why am I here?

Well, I'm here to explain myself. I was under a lot of pressure and maybe made some bad choices regarding giving credit. Looking back now I know I should've at least given D-man and Felly some props for their assistance. And when the criticism came around, I should've kept my cool and took it. Then the flamewar came around and we all did things we may regret to this day. So for that, I would like to give my long-awaited apologizes to the entire community.

Now the next question: Am I coming back to dA?

Well, I'm not exactly so sure. I'm at a very good place right now where I'm at, I've written a full 76-paged screenplay, I'm almost finished with a novel, I've made an OC wrestling promotion, and believe it or not: I don't write Death Battles anymore. Because let's be frank, Death Battle has lost it's touch over the years, and the show is kind off selling out. But if I were go back on dA, I'd probably be doing my own thing and not get involved in a giant community like the DB writers.

So, I guess this is all I have to say, then. If any of the DB writers are reading this and still think of me like they did years ago. I understand.