Now allow myself to introduce.... myself. My name's Rolando Farrales, but most friends call me Ro. I'm a 25 year old Filipino-American hailing from Fort Washington, MD, which is a hop, skip, jump, and a 15 minute drive away from D.C. After reading the EPU Forums since its start, I finally decided it was time to stop sneaking around and start participating in all the fun. So TAADOW!!! Here I am, and God help us all! :)

I got my first taste of anime when I was little, while living in Japan during the early 80's, where my dad was stationed for a tour of sea duty in the Navy. I have vague, yet fond memories of watching all sorts of TV anime, playing with lots of fun transformable toy robots, and learning to speak Japanese in first grade. When my dad was transferred back to the U.S., my family settled down in the D.C. area, and I continued grade school, my memories of Japan beginning to fade.

Then Robotech came along, and the memories came flooding back, sparking the fire of interest on anime in me completely, like it did so many others. More dubbed anime shows popped up on TV to fan the flames, like Voltron, Tranzor Z, and Dragon Warrior. It blossomed to bonfire levels when I finally started collecting what manga was available, jumpstarted by buying the first Ninja High School graphic novel. I tried to get my hands on any tapes and comics I could afford, and my collection grew. Appreciation of anime and manga also fueled my love of drawing, resulting in my manga-influenced art style (which I'd like to share with you all, if I can ever get around to posting some of my art here). This continued for me throughout middle school and high school, as anime fandom also continued its rise. When I eventually came to Virginia Tech in '94, I found the university's anime clubs, and went to their weekly meetings regularly over the course of my college years and grew to truly appreciate how even more diverse anime was, through all the different genres I enjoyed. So here I am now, my love for anime still burning bright and cheerful.

As for EPU, I've been reading since '96, when I first came across Cybertron Dreams during my junior year in college. I loved its portrayal of everyone's favorite transformable robots, and was intrigued enough by all the crossover elements I saw that I decided to take a gander at what this whole Undocumented Features thing was all about. Hook, line, and sinker. :) Within a month, I read all of UF, and by the month after, the rest of EPU's works. Been a loyal fan ever since.

Well, that's it from me. Time to jump into the Forum and do my thing. See you all around!

-Ro