Long time reader and previous donor VranceMovado is now a guest poster here on the Krystal Archive. He will be helping me by making news posts and helping me rebuild the site. He should be making his first posts in just a few minutes. Please welcome him!

I've re-added the Fanfiction section. You should see the link on the left in the sidebar. Right now, it contains only those fanfictions that were there before the hacking incident. I haven't had time to redesign the fanfiction section or add the newly reviewed fictions, as planned. That's coming.

On the subject of improving the site, a couple of you reported very laggy performance on the site when viewed in FireFox. I've found and corrected that issue, the site should be snappy in all browsers now.

Just to give you a little insight into why this is all taking so long: The Krystal Archive's files are spread out across 2 computers and 1 external hard drive. I have partial copies in multiple places, some of which have changes that each of the others don't have. This means I have to find those changes and merge them, one of the most time-consuming, error-prone, and difficult tasks. Backups after the hacking incident are mostly complete. I can restore MOST of the old posts and content, but with the new design, that will likely break things. I'm going to try to restore one major section at a time. So, first it will be fanfictions. Next, something else. Probably cosplay, since I have some recent cosplayer info to post. It would go a lot faster, as it did in the past, if I wasn't working, but I have a full time job and often side-jobs to work on during the weekends. I can't just sit and update the KA for 2 straight days like I once could while in college. But don't worry. I do NOT give up easily.

Forgot to post about this earlier. I'm in Seattle to go to Everfree NW, a Brony con. If any of you are there, you might spot me. I'll be wearing a badge that looks like this. Otherwise, see you when I get back. Lots of updates to post!

KakaretteKosplay, or Bridgette Rockette, did a bodypaint-based Krystal cosplay back in March for MomoCon 2012. I believe she said she created the costume very quickly using materials obtained very near the beginning of the con. There are only a few photos, but I've already contacted her for more and additional information.

• Whole Cosplay Photo
• Heavy Weapons Krystal

Thanks to whoever submitted this info! (I'll fix the form so you can be properly credited in the future.)

Many of you have already responded to my call for volunteers. Until now, I've been unable to have time to personally send you tasks to do. It's the greatest limitation to getting help from you guys. Well not anymore! I'm happy to report that we now have a way for you to help without having to manage emails back and forth.

Anyone can now submit fanworks (fanart, fanfilms, fanfiction, cosplay, and games/mods) using a simple form.

I've already sent out emails to several people who have expressed an interest in being a reviewer for fanfilms or fanfics. If you haven't already received an email from me about it, and you're interested in being a reviewer, just email me about it.

I've moved Donations under the new header at the top called Volunteering, since donating is helping too.

Read the Volunteering page to find out more. Thanks again guys!

The Krystal Lovers Association (KLA), the world's largest Krystal-focused community forum, is shutting down at the end of 2012 after almost 10 years online. Eggman9713, the long-running admin, announced the shutdown back on June 28th. It basically comes down to losing interest over time and a lack of new Star Fox games. He's not sure what exactly will become of the site after it's shut down, musing that he might freeze the site from new posts, but leave it up as an archive for a while. You can read all about the reasoning and the plan for the shutdown in Eggman's End of Line post.

It was no more than 2 weeks after I created the Krystal Archive (having been a member of Starfox-Online for a few months prior) that I was contacted my a couple of high-profile members of the KLA and asked to join. Since then, for most of the years since, I've been an active member of the KLA community, and chatted with Eggman and many others at length. It was only recently that I have been neglecting the community. Nevertheless, the KLA will always stand in my memory as a great community and a historic location for the announcement of Krystal and Star Fox research (Star Fox Adventures in HD, finding unreleased artist renderings, etc).

This is the first in a series of posts I'll make as the site rebuild continues. The top bar links Podcast, About, and Donations have been updated.

Podcast, or the Krystal Archive Podcast, has been completely restored. Your subscriptions should get updated soon if you're subscribing to the feed. You might also notice that the audio player has been replaced with a specially modified version of the YouTube player. That's right, you can listen to the Krystal Archive Podcast via YouTube.

The About page gives a basic overview of the site and details our policies. In the future, after the Articles have been restored, it will provide information for people new to Krystal or Star Fox. It will probably also have some information about me and how I can be contacted. Not sure yet if I should break that off into a separate article like it once was.

I've rebuilt the Donations as well. During the hacking incident, all the user data was lost. If you were one of the donors and you want your account back, just email me and I'll add it asap. The old Secret Area is gone, but if you as a donor want to have access to those files, just mention it in the email.

We made some small modifications to the theme so the Search page has columns for archived months.

Lastly, I'm almost done with a method to allow volunteers to help review fanfilms, fanfictions, and do other work without needing to be coordinated by me. It's going to work through Google Docs, so everyone can be working at the same time without getting in each other's way. This, combined with some new tools I'll be writing, will hopefully greatly speed up the update time for fan works.

Just kidding. :D

As you all know, Nintendo did not show Star Fox, F-Zero, or Smash Bros at today's presentation. They didn't show a Metroid/Star Fox crossover, they didn't show a lot of things. And while that is initially disappointing, I'd like to point out that there was a very significant thing they also did not show:

What has Retro Studios been working on?

So take heart, Star Fox fans. Nintendo has made major game announcements outside of their keynotes before. E3 isn't over, and we may yet hear some additional news about in-development games like Star Fox and Super Smash Bros 4. There's also another Star Fox possibility: the next Star Fox game could be on 3DS. There's a video presentation just for new 3DS games tomorrow at 6PM.

Either way, Nintendo DID show quite a few great looking games. I'm particularly happy for fans of Pikmin. I don't play that series, but I am happy for those who do. They've been waiting a lot longer than we have for a sequel. Nintendo showed that their new system, the Wii U, is capable of all of the experiences offered by the PS3 and XBOX 360, plus more through the new gamepad. The addition of a touch screen to console gaming might turn out to be more revolutionary than motion controls.

Overall, I'm excited about the new games and gameplay possibilities. Nintendo can't make everyone happy all the time, but I am a little disappointed to not see Star Fox front and center.

In a about 10 hours, Nintendo will be having its keynote presentation at this year's E3. There will be numerous places to watch it live online and even on TV. What's even more amazing is that Nintendo has already gone ahead and done a pre-presentation to show off new features of the Wii U, its gamepad and new controllers, its built-in software and online/social features, and some news about the 3DS. They showed off all of this just so they wouldn't distract from tomorrow's presentation where they will talk exclusively about the new games.

Though I have not been keeping up with the latest leaks and rumors, what I have heard from various news sources is:

• Mario title at launch
• The Star Fox/Metroid crossover game was only proposed, but was not created
• Nintendo to show new Star Fox and F-Zero games

I'm going to be at work at 9AM (Pacific) when Nintendo has their presentation, but I will be able to watch it there. If there is any news about Star Fox and/or Krystal, I will post about it as soon as I can. I'm hoping for an epic Star Fox game in the pedigree of Star Fox 64, but with the newer crew of Fox, Falco, Slippy, and, of course, Krystal.

Thanks to all who volunteered to help. I got more of a response than I was expecting, and I don't yet have tasks ready for those of you who I haven't given a response. I will get some things for you to do, don't worry. It'll most likely be in the form of reviewing fanfictions, fanfilms, and finding new fanart.

However, I'm having some guests in town over the next few days and will probably be unable to update the site or respond to emails until they are gone, so please be patient. And don't forget to count the days to E3, where there will no-doubt be some incredible news!