well, last night's discussion with golem man [you know for all the abuse i gave him i hope he's truly found something new!] got me thinking about the myths of mr2. nothing has had quite the staying power of the leviathan, wild, or werewolf from mr1, but there have been a few erroneous ideas that crop up regularly, are refuted, then come back again. here are the top 5 that i remember: 1] you can capture enemy monsters ... this has had the most lives. i just read a post yesterday from someone who insists you can get enemy monsters without a gameshark. somehow, though, the method is never quite revealed...

2] nuts oil/mint leaf decreases lifespan ... well, you give it to your monster like a drug, and it has a visible effect, like a drug. therefore it must be a drug, and drugs reduce lifespan, right? well, no. everyone who has reported a 10+ year old monster they have raised[including golem man, btw] has reported using both of these items in raising that monster. to me, that's proof enough.

3] how you answer the alien question at the start of the game affects when/whether you get metalners ... it seemed like it should, and i believed this for awhile, but its clear[as clear as a night in september, in fact] to me now that it didn't. in fact, i'm wondering, now that i've started getting retirement warnings again, whether my answer to the other questions really did have any effect, or if its all just random.

4] all breeds are unlocked when you become a master no.

5] the monsters you get off your cds change as you unlock new breeds ... this has not been disproved so much as been abandoned. this one scares me the most, because i catalogued my cd collection when i only had slightly more than half the breeds unlocked, and haven't gone back to check those that were unlocked since i've now unlocked all but beaclon. if enough people say this, my collection will be the proof or disproof, and i'll hate having to do all the recataloging.

any others i've missed?

-- torey luvullo (dst10000@compuserve.com), March 24, 2000

Answers 6]The Magic Banana Can Make Your Monster Immortal 7]Phoenix And Durahan Are The Best Monsters

-- Wheel Gator (MyersDCM@email.msn.com), March 24, 2000.

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Good Post Torey (as always). Gator, I agree with number 6, but in my humble opinion they are the best two to train. Perhaps I need to have a more open mind to raising other species...but after I finish MR1!!

-- Tony (amcdaniel@riteaid.com), March 24, 2000.

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How about the Phoenix returning?

-- Lisa Shock (LisaShock@quepasa.com), March 25, 2000.

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I might sound Stupid and tottally alone on this one but a drug is a drug I dont trust Nuts oil and will never ever give it to my monsters.

-- Rion Beyolve (twopacliveson@hotmail.com), March 25, 2000.

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Well I don't need nuts oil 'cause I have 3 Gemini Pots.

-- Phoenix Masta (Kamehameha123@cs.com), March 25, 2000.

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Gemini Pots affect Stress, not fatigue, plus the holding items don't make your monster work more, it makes it so that it doesn't lose as much lifespan when doing drills. No the CD's don't change at all, another MR2 myth, it goes along well with a Freekerfart thingy...

-- Vheod (belgrath16@aol.com), March 25, 2000.

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rion, you don't sound stupid [not since the name change anyway]. i know some ranchers who don't like nuts oil either, and you can run a ranch without it. just realize, its been pretty much proven it doesn't hurt your monsters lifespan. thanx, lisa - i forgot about that one. after i retired and saved my phoenix, i went back and played him out until he flew away. just as he disappeared over the horizon, a light appeared that put me in mind of the death shooting star. so i guess he doesn't come back, although i haven't waited the 100 yrs yet. btw, is it true he does come back in the japanese version?

-- torey luvullo (dst10000@compuserve.com), March 25, 2000.

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Nice job Torey. Those are pretty much the big 5 of the myths. Once again, nice job.

-- The Man (djedmond@pinenet.com), March 25, 2000.

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It is believed that it does return in the Japanese version. (Maybe it likes cigarettes.) Someone, an early contributer, posted something about his phoenix returning. Check the archives, either he was spreading a rumor (we didn't hear much from him after this) or it's true ( he posted the announcement pretty early [November?] to have gotten the feather and then ranched for 100 years in the US version)

-- Lisa Shock (LisaShock@quepasa.com), March 25, 2000.

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One question does affect the game. If you answer Yes to "Do you like to take big risks?" or something Colt will only tell you if your monster is stressed or tired at the last second.

-- JellTrainer (lukadjukic@yahoo.com), March 25, 2000.

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I'll have to confess to the report of the returning Pheonix. I was very new and was having fun. No, the Pheonix NEVER comes back, and I doubt that it does in the Jap version either. THe thread is in the Pheonix Files and is called (duh!!) MY PHEONIX CAM BACK!! It is TOTAL bull shit. Trust me. I made the whole thing up...

-- Jimmy Cooper (duckman18@hotmail.com), March 25, 2000.

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Frikkerfrak-DOES NOT EXIST. This may be somewhat obscure but I've seen about five posts about it.

-- Zack F (fake@dontemailme.com), March 26, 2000.

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what is frikkerfrak?

-- trey (treymjb@aol.com), March 26, 2000.

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It's a taunt post put up by a transient; the werewolf of MR2. One person trying to create a rumor of a new monster. I'd rather we all just ignore it, and not waste our time on this person.

-- Lisa Shock (LisaShock@quepasa.com), March 26, 2000.

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Maybe I can help with number 5.I could swear(I wrote it down)that I got a monster with a worm sub-breed off a cd ,then much later when I realized I hadn't unlocked Beaclon,It no longer was the same monster.This should be easy to prove.I think my son has a file where he's just competed in IMa FIMBA.If he gets one monster and I get another,that should prove it,right?If we both get the same monster,it might lend credence to the scratching theory,but the cd wasn't used a lot in between.Maybe it was magnetic distortion caused by sunspots.Will try to remember to post here tomorrow.

-- Argos (stanrock@uwm.edu), March 27, 2000.

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Argos has discovered he is not infallible.The cd was the same on both files.Attribute the discrepancy to human error.But I fear the myth will live on.

-- Argos (stanrock@uwm.edu), March 28, 2000.

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I just remembered another one: You get authorization for all breeds when you reach Master rank. (Of course, there are different proceedures for unlocking certain breeds or groups of breeds, and rank does not factor into most of them.)

-- Lisa Shock (LisaShock@quepasa.com), April 01, 2000.

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lisa, that's what i meant to say with number 4...

-- torey luvullo (dst10000@compuserve.com), April 01, 2000.

-- torey luvullo (dst10000@compuserve.com), April 13, 2000