Hello everybody! Theamazing1 here back with a new edition of Spotlight! For this Spotlight, another huge person in the FMA community is featured, and it is well deserved. This week the Spotlight is on alxmm98, the owner of the drum corps "The Panthers," the drumline, "Pulse percussion," and the color guard, "Allusion." Alex has been on the site since November of 2014, and has had many successes since. Let's get an inside look on his successes that he has managed, and what his overall experiences are as a fellow user of this site.
In the beginning of my interview, I asked Alex how long he has been here, and why has he stuck with it for so long. If you're a long time veteran of something, there has to be a reason why you're a veteran. "I've been on FMA for almost two years now, even though it hasn't felt like its been that long. I found this game by chance, and its by far one of my luckiest discoveries." This quote is so significant, because really, how did everybody else find this site? Maybe from one of your friends. My guess is that you were bored one day and decided to type, "marching band games" into google. At least that's what I did. "I've stayed with the game for so long because of the amazing community, which motivates me to play. I also like the idea of my own name being engraved in the record books, and I really enjoy seeing my hard work pay off when I see The Panthers in the top 12 or when I see people enjoy my write ups." Isn't it great to see all of your successes over time on here? Whether it be a medal from a long time ago, or even a paragraph that you wrote a long time ago about one of your groups.
I then asked what he thought his best group has been so far. "My most successful group by far is The Panthers. Since season 39, they have been competing hard and never give up. They have the most top 12 finishes out of all my groups, they have won D2 medals, and even won the D2 Championship. I feel that I dedicate more of my effort toward The Panthers because of how much I enjoy drum corps, and I actually first started out with only that group." And might I point out his crazy amount of success in his D2 stage. It's usually pretty hard to have much success while in Division 2, because D2 is kind of that awkward transition between Division 3 and D1, because when you're in Division 2 you're most likely getting your group prepared enough to have remotely any success in D1. So it's pretty admirable to see so much success in D2.
As many of you out there know, some seasons can be better than others. Of course, somebody with such experience should know that. I asked Alex what he thought is best season was so far, and he answered,"I've had many successful seasons on FMA. Season 40 saw my group jump into the top 5 of D2 after only a quarter of a season in D3. My first season in D1 was amazing because unlike many successful D2 groups, my groups actually did very well in the first season in prime time." Which everybody has a different story on how they switched from division 3 to division 2, sometimes it's rightfully so, and sometimes it's just random and out of the blue. "However, I would have to say without a doubt that season 45 was my greatest season to date. After losing my 3rd place spot a few seasons before on the last two finals days, my drum corps came back from a fierce fundraising campaign and took over D2. We had to fight for it, and we definitely didn't have the lead early on, but in the end we won by general consensus, since Corps IBEX glitched into D2. The Planets is still our corp's most legendary show."
I then asked where his success has come from, and what did he do to get his groups to where they are today. "My success is due to the fact that I am dedicated to the game, plain and simple. I log on every day, and I am so addicted to the game much of the time i log on almost every six hours. I rehearse very hard, and it shows in my point gains every night." This shows the true dedication that Alex has had for the game. It's usually not very easy to log on and rehearse at a consistent rate. We should all know the struggle, cause we're all in band! One of the most time consuming activities you can do in school, or work for. "When you see The Panthers at the bottom half of the top 30 early on, you can never count us out, because we are very persistent and consistent with our rehearsals. I plan on continuing what I already do, while also evolving how I play if needed over time."
Then I asked Alex what his show for The Panthers was about, and why that one.This is covering his season 53 show. "This season, The Panthers chose to tell the story of the lover and the loved. The chaser and the chased. We decided to tell a story about relationships today, and we felt that the best way to tell that story was through the music of Miles Davis. This is the first time we are using music as the backdrop for a visual story, usually its the other way around. With the recent release of Miles Ahead, and my own trials and tribulations with relationships, I felt that this show was the best combination of ideas I could come up with. So far, Im happy, and i think the fans are happy too. This has been a great show." As a fellow director in the FAME league, I was able to experience this show at our FAME events. It was not only a huge fan favorite, but it also hit a little close to home. A truly phenomenal show, and I aspire The Red Kingsmen to take after their perfection "However, watch out for next season! Don't Hug Me I'm Scared will be a breathtakingly revolutionary show in the drum corps circuit, and we are already preparing for it." Might I say that I am really looking forward to this show, as I am a huge DHMIS fan. The series was amazing, and really makes you think. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, here is the link to the first video. You can click on the channel name to watch the rest of them. https://youtu.be/9C_HReR_McQ
With such success on a game, challenges come with it. I asked Alex what he thought was the most challenging part of FMA, and he answered, "The most challenging part of FMA to me isnt rehearsing. It can get tough at times, but for the most part i get my energy points in on time consistently. The hardest part of FMA for me has to be overtaking other groups in points, especially bigger groups. While I am known for sneaking my way into the top 12 by overtaking other players late in the season, its not an easy task, especially when other groups are debuting with scores of 75 and 80." There is also the very good and fun parts of FMA, "The best part about FMA is the thriving and supportive community. The fact that I've been embraced so well and have become a leader on here never ceases to amaze me. I love logging on everyday hearing what others have to say. It makes the game feel more personal. I especially love being a part of FAME, which was the first league to ever reach out to me." Yeah, it's always fun to see how much this community thrives and how competitive it really is.
Finally I asked him if he had any plans or future changes for his time on the site. He answered, "As far as future plans, I have to say that I always have ideas. One of my biggest ideas, which i hope will take effect, is the FMA Convention. I plan to push the idea and inspire everyone on this site to speak about their views and ideas on a global platform. As a BoD of FAME and PERC, I plan to improve already good relations between all of the leagues in FMA, and to possibly promote a season long FAME/CLASS tour, in which league members will create events that will create friendly competition between the two leagues by inviting corps from both leagues to compete with each other."
And that concludes this edition of Spotlight! Thank you to alxmm98 for participating, and a huge congratulations to you for the amount of success you've had on this site. You're a huge role model and influence to this community. Thanks to all for reading, and I'll see you next time on Spotlight!

Massive shout out to Alex for his work here on FMA. I've been fortunate enough to collaborate with him on PERC, FLAG, and the FMA Hall of Fame. So I commend Tyler for this terrific write- up, and Alex for his work in the FMA community. From one "historian" to some others, thank you, and congrats!

Thank you so much Tyler, that was an amazing write up! You took so long because you really tried to do the best you could, and as a fellow writer let me say it was awesome. Thanks for the hard work. And Bailey, Im fortunate enough to work along side you as well. You are awesome at what you do, and I wouldnt pick another person to run the Hall of Fame with me. Thanks you guys!

Good work, Tyler. Alex is one of the most dedicated, trustworthy directors on FMA. He's certainly one I can trust to keep FAME afloat in my absence.

I'll be bringing back Spotlight! next week. Band Camp will end and school will begin so things will start to settle down a little bit. (By next week I mean September). Let me know if you're interested. There's still a lot of greats out there, but I don't like to write it out without one's request (I could tell how awkward it was for Chap to answer a lot of questions out of nowhere)
And, Aaron, my scores will come later tonight.

Anybody interested in spotlight for this week?
Like I'm probably gonna have to stop doing them if nobody wants them

Me!

Spotlight will be coming out on Sunday this week. Sorry about that guys. It might have to be like that until after comp season. For now, it has been renamed, “spotlight Sunday!"

#6 will not come out until the second Friday of November. I will also not be very active. Sorry everyone.