Freddy VS. the VP
I remember the first time I faced the VP. I had some idea what to expect because I'd read forums and watched my son. I knew about the CCG and went to a scheduled run. It was new, exciting, and SCARY. The cogs just kept coming and coming. And then the harder skelecogs! It seemed like there was so much to remember. Lure left, attack right, throw pies in the undercarriage, throw pies at his upper body when he's stunned, and most importantly, jump when he jumps. It seemed so hard back then, but we made it through.
I've done literally hundreds of VPs since then.
I remember the challenge of my first 4 toon run. I was amazed at how easily we plowed through all those cogs, and the pie fight was a breeze. Wow! It's not so hard after all if you have toons that know what they're doing!
I remember the thrill of bringing through a couple of low laff toons, including a CC1 who didn't know to jump, when the other side went sad in the skelecogs. They thought it was hopeless, but the three of us danced.
A lot of people said I was good at stunning, and yeah I guess I knew it, but was I good enough for the real challenge? Could I actually solo an entire VP?
This morning I decided it was time to find out. I knew others had done it, so I figured I should be able to too. And they'd done it before level 7 gags, so it should be easier for me. At least, the cogs and skelecogs should be easier. But it was the pie fight I was really worried about. The flats are easy, but the ramps scared me. On many runs I've stunned from close behind, then run around to the front only to find that he comes un-stunned just before I can throw a pie. If that happened while soloing, how could I possibly get him down the ramps alone?
I gathered the weapons I'd need.
The arsenal:
The allies:
The reserves:
Medic!
I paused a moment, facing my enemy. Was I up to the task?
I was alone...
Gulp!
It begins:
I was surprised for a second - skelecogs during the cog round?!? But it was Easter and I'd noticed while running down Oak Street that Disney had decided to have a skelecog invasion to celebrate, and I guess they snuck in here too. I dropped a piano on the 12 and missed. Another 12 and another 2 came out. I dropped again, and missed again. I was taking too much damage. I lured, and missed. This was not starting out well. I considered bailing, but if I alted out just then I'd lose all my level 7's anyway. I decided to weaken them up and bring them down to a manageable number of points with my opera singer. Finally, a hit! Meanwhile, my laff was getting pretty low.
I tried lure again, but when it missed (again!) I had to use the first of my unites to toon myself up. I used an 80 just as the cog hit me for another 20 points. Phew! This was looking bad though. In the first 5 rounds I had 4 misses. Luckily after that things improved a fair bit, though I did have several more lures miss now and then. Fortunately I could rely on my good buddy Flippy to come to my rescue a few times.
That was good, because my doodle really stunk. I called him about 8 times while repeatedly luring the last level 1 cog but he only did one trick.
But my good friend was happy to help out again so I could face the skels at full laff.
After so many gags missing though, I was a bit apprehensive.
Things went much smoother in the skelecog round though, where drop was the name of the game. It started with a single 12 coming out to face me, and my piano actually hit!
Some smaller cogs came out, so Franz lent a hand.
Then some bigger ones tried to scare me, but their ship had come in.
Drop was working well, so I asked Franz's big sister, Bessie, to help out, and she came through twice in a row.
Before long I was facing the last skelecog.
Wow! All the way through and NO RESTOCKS! I was ready to face the big guy...
I was a bit busy throwing pies for the next bit to take more screen shots, 'til I got him to the last stretch. I was happily surprised by how long he stayed stunned on the ramps. Not very long really, but long enough for me to get beside him and lob a few pies at him. I now suspect that the stun period is based on both a simple timer and how many pies hit him, so when there are other toons pieing him the stun doesn't last as long. Anyway, despite a couple stun jumps I was still in decent shape by the time I got him to the lower platform, aka the "helipad".
But then he got really nasty and just did not want to go the last little bit. He'd go for long periods without opening his door, slowly rolling forward. Then, when I did stun him, I was lucky to hit him once or twice before he regained his senses. I took a fair bit more damage just getting him that last little bit of the way, but I managed it without having to use up any more ToW phrases.
Woo hoo! I danced my little bunny heart out!
And my reward? Professor Guffaw.
Leftover SOS:
Leftover gags:
Leftover TU phrases:
Leftover restocks:
In total I used:
3 x Flippy
3 x Moe Zart
2 x Barnacle Bessie
1 x Franz Neckvein
1 x TU 10
1 x TU 20
3 x TU 80
My biggest surprise (thanks to 6 SOS attack cards and 4 level 7 gags) was not having to use any of my restocks at all. My second biggest surprise was not even using my slide show, which is how I'd planned on getting through most of the skelecog round.
I guess the next challenge is the CFO, but I don't know. I've tried finishing the crane fight alone a couple times when all the other toons unfortunately went sad, but I just haven't been able to do it. Maybe one day, but I know I'm not ready for that one yet.
Thanks to all the great toons who have accompanied me on countless runs through which I learned everything I know, and also to all those who soloed ahead of me, who showed me it could be done and gave me the confidence to try it myself.
I like this game!
TTYL,
Kevin
). Many congrats on a job well done!
