It was a dark and stormy night… Okay, before I get into that, let me start off with this - I can’t believe it’s come down to the final 8 candidates!! It seems like this whole recruitment process has been going on forever, doesn’t it? Back at PAX 05, I remember meeting a bunch of girls (oh, and don’t forget Gus from Red vs. Blue who also tried out) and thinking how impossible it was going to be to narrow down our choices. That was actually where I met Kari aka The Don Won, one of our finalists who looks and IS straight out of the beaches of Hawaii, but has enough punch in her to kick ass at Halo. PAX was then followed by MLG where it was a little easier to notice the girl gamers, but more difficult to even start deciding which ones could be Frag Dolls.

At my first MLG in vegas, I met Alyson, aka Nin9tyNin9, another one of our finalists. She immediately reminded me of Eekers with her dirty-blondish hair, big smile, and laid back demeanor. Plus, I was definitely impressed that she could hang AND play against the boys during MLG. And before I sum up all the contenstants I had already met in person, how could I forget the lovely Callistah who I first met at the NW LAN Party? I think she was playing WC3 at the LAN party and she’s mastered Tom Clancy shooters like no other. Plus she’s been a long time forumer. But it wasn’t until our recent meeting at THX where I finally got to meet the rest of the candidates.

So back to my dark and stormy night. Really, because that’s exactly what it was like on the night I drove up to San Rafael, CA where we would be meeting the final 8 candidates. I thought the first night at the hotel would be full of polite introductions, getting-to-know-each-other conversations, and nervousness, but when I arrived, I found that it was already hot tub time! I won’t go into details besides that after I left, I think the girls got kicked out for being “loud” or causing some sort of “commotion”. Anyhow, that night I met Gypsy and Moe, who I immediately recognized from our forums. Gypsy has hands down the cutest retainer smile I’ve ever seen with the coolest vintage taste ever. And Moe is the energetic punk rocker chick that everyone would want to be friends with.

The next day we got up bright and early to have breakfast at the THX studios, which meant FINALLY meeting the rest of the girls. Cella, a long time Frag Doll PMS friend, greeted me saying how I was the only Frag Doll she hadn’t met in person yet. With her bright and cheery Miss America smile, I felt like I already knew her from the start. And also from the PMS clan was Ang3l and Perfect. I had heard of Perfect’s Ghost Recon mastery and discovered she was also our youngest candidate. Ang3l had a passion and love for all games playable and showed that not only could she game, but she could breakdance! That’s mad skillz.

With those kind of first impressions, you can see how difficult our decision was going to be. Every girl who applied seemed to have their own style, personality, and some spunk about her that seemed like Frag Doll material in my eyes. But I’ll have to leave it at that until next time…