Tied The Leader: Gunslingers » Gunslinger Spotlight: TTL Al Capown

Al Capown Emblem I wanted to revive the Spotlight section of TTL as I think it is a great way to get to know your fellow Gunslingers. I would like to Spotlight Old Timers and Newcomers. This particular interview was easy to pick as TTL Al Capown achieved a huge accomplishment within the Halo Community recently. 10K Banshee kills!!! That rocks! So, with that being said Nodak and I came up with some questions to ask Mr. Banshee.

Enjoy the Interview.
Venus

1. What inspired you to pick TTL Al Capown?
Well, it took me a couple of hours to come up with this one. I wanted something unique, as I don’t like adding numbers or “x, l, o” to my tags. I really like gangster movies, and I had just recently seen The Untouchables, with Robert De Niro playing Al Capone. I took Al Capone and added a gaming twist to it with the word “pwn”, but also wanted to keep the name similar to the original spelling, so that lead to Capown.

2. You have been a member of TTL since 2/23/07 but how did you find your way here?
If my memory serves me right, I was first introduced to TTL through bsangel. As most know, she is from The Cavegirls, and this was the first gaming community I come across while in my first clan, Truth Regret. After that, I was later introduced to Dweezle, and from that point we
were always gaming together. When my clan fell apart, Dweezle convinced me to apply for recruitment for TTL. The rest is history.

3. What is your favorite game variant and why?
I have many that I like, but if I had to pick one it would be Multi-flag. This variant allows us Gunslingers to perform to our full potential. Having squads allows everyone to go do their thing, knowing that everything else is taken care of. Ex: If I’m in a Banshee controlling center field or helping strike team, and see a Mongoose drive by, I know I can let it slip by. Having some HG in the party, I feel confident that they can take care of it with a heads up, which allows me to not be distracted by it and help else where.

4. What is your favorite flavor Jelly Belly Bean ?
(if you have never tried them, go buy a bag and come back and answer this!)

Hard to know my favorite flavor, as I haven’t tried that many kinds of Jelly Beans. There are around 50 total I believe. Of the ones I have tried though, Watermelon was one of my favorites. Flavors that I would like to try, that I haven’t, would be: Blueberry, Coconut, and Piña Colada.

5. When did your love for the Banshee begin?
It all started with the campaign of Halo 2, and I never stopped enjoying it. It has definitely changed since Halo 2, but I have adapted, and turned it into a force to be reckoned with.

6. Did you try other vehicles or was the banshee just your first love?
I have always enjoyed driving/flying all of the vehicles in the Halo series. Believe or not, my first love was not the Banshee. Back in Halo 2, I really loved to drive around in the Warthog…especially in the campaign. It took me awhile to get the hang of the Banshee in Halo 2, but with everything else it takes practice.

7. When did you decide to go for 10k and how does it feel to achieve that goal?
I don’t remember when I first decided to make this a goal of mine, but it was probably in the 1 to 3 thousand range. This was back when I wasn’t the top pilot out there, and had a lot of competition. It wasn’t until I hit my 7,777 mark (which by the way was to show appreciation to Bungie) that I realized I had pulled ahead of the pack, and was in the top spot. From that point on, the others had no chance. It feels nice to set a milestone like this, and be the first person in the entire Halo community to have that many Banshee kills.

8. What is next for you and do you have plans to master another machine?
I don’t have any plans yet, but I am sure something will come along. Maybe I could get 7,777 Ghost kills and splatters at the same time. I have already mastered a majority of the vehicles in Halo, but if there is one I would like to be better in, it would be the Warthog. I want to learn better routes on the maps, and if possible, I want to perfect a
way to get away from those damn Choppers.

9. How many of those 10k kills were accomplished while flying drunk?
(Nodak’s personal question)

I believe the exact number is 9,989. I had to be sober on all the even numbers (1,000 through 10,000, and one for 7,777), so that I could hit those numbers exactly. LOL

10. Would you say this statement is true? Popeye + spinach = Capown + alcohol (another personal question from Nodak)
That is true at the beginning of the night. The number of generals we have beat on Friday Night Shots is amazing. I wish I had the numbers for it. As the night goes on though, I start to miss a lot of my shots and eventually start gazing at the clouds and stars if we are playing on Valhalla. That is actually a true story. I watched some films clips of a FNS one day, and noticed that I was doing that during the last game I played of the night.

Extra bonus question: What is one of your favorite gaming memories that stands out since you have been a member of TTL?
Ouch, that is a tough one. It is hard to recall many memories after playing 7k+ H2 matches and 6k+ H3 matches. I really do have a lot of stuff I could mentioned here, but one that comes to mind right away would involve a game of Halo 2, on Containment. The game type was Multi-flag, and the person involved was Tortacular. The only reason I bring this one up, is because it was discussed a couple of months back. Don’t ask me how either of us remembered this moment, but since we did, it must have been memorable. At the time I was part of Strike Team, and the situation was me sitting above their base for a full minute straight waiting for a perfect time to grab the flag or to wait for backup, which ever come first. Well, backup arrived in the form of Tort sneaking up behind me and before anything could be said, him bursting into the base giving away both of our positions. We both went down in flames, but had a good laugh after that, and again, not sure what made us bring it up in a recent conversation.

That was a memorable online moment, but if I had to give a memorable offline TTL moment, it would be L Askan getting me drunk and….well, you can PM me if you want this to go on :o. My first meeting with the Gunslingers was at the Penny Arcade Expo, up in Seattle, where I got to meet L Askan, L0coM0tive, KP, and bs angel. I had a blast all weekend,
and can’t wait to go back.

alcapone-and-laskan