HISTORY OF RCT INNOVATION/FUSION
RCT Innovation was formed a few days before Christmas in December, 2002. AustinPowers (AP) pm’d SirSpinster at RCT Station with his idea of the club. They were both members of RCTDevisions at the Station and were unsatisfied with the workings of the club. They both started recruiting the little known but quality parkmakers hanging around RCT Station. They both agreed to recruit Supertrooper and PenguinBOB right away. AustinPowers then recruited Titan and SirSpinster recruited ShadowBall4. In order to get a club folder at RCT Station, you needed 6 members, and with those recruits, the RCT Innovation club was born.
AP pm’d Mike Robbins with his club member list and RCT Station had just changed the rules for clubs. You had to complete a park first to get a club folder. So, SirSpinster started some Boardnation Forums for us the club got busy with Caribbean Cove. We decided to just keep the club secret until we became official.
We decided we might need some more members to get this park done, so AP asked a complete newcomer to the Station, the very talented Filaldo (AKA Voodoo, Adonis) to join this new secret club. AP wanted to snatch him up before Gymkid picked him for Ultimate, as it was, Gym ended up stealing him away later. AP also asked a Belgian girl, ello, to join the club.
Caribbean Cove got entered into the Pinnacle Park contest at the Station but lost to Lights, Camera, Action, a LL Masters park. So, in January, 2003, we had our club folder at RCT Station. Everyone thought our club and our park were cool, and everyone was surprised that we kept it a secret for so long. Good times…does anyone remember the RCT Innovation club sigs we all had….many clubs have copied that club member sig idea from us!
The club was hugely popular and many were interested in joining. Brynlaw was recruited and Filaldo convinced us to recruit Metropole. ShadowBall4 got kicked from the club due to inactivity, and IndyJones was recruited. To bring our club member numbers up to twelve, we recruited two more. Titan suggested hulkpower and Supertrooper and SirSpinster suggested RCTFan. Around this time, Voodoo left for Ultimate, and wpnw was recruited to replace Voodoo. Ello went missing from the RCT world, so we then recruited Kumba to replace her. SirSpinster decided to call it quits and so AP was now the sole leader of RCTI. Marshy was recruited to replace SirSpinster. So, the club kept maintaining 12 members.
The club released six parks within the first six months: Caribbean Cove, Southwest Adventures (duo Supertrooper and PBob), Forsaken Lakes (duo Metropole and Brynlaw), Tiumba Islands (Kumba and Titan), Monolith Mines (RCTFan and Indy), and 007 Adventure Park (Titan and AP).
After six months of the club up to the first year, SirSpinster was convinced by AP to come back and Brynlaw was kicked from the club due to inactivity. SixFrags and Slob (metalface) were recruited. Marshy and Slob left to go join SDI (a club that never really got off the ground despite all the hype they received). AP recruited Angel and Verlo to replace them. PenguinBOB and RCTFan both decided they needed RCT breaks and they left. JackoShanty was recruited and then RCTFan came back. Hulkpower was kicked from the club and then Drew was recruited. We bumped the member total to 16 with Hyperion and DarkJanus recruited.
Metropole and Marshy got a RunnerUp at New Element with JW: Through the Ages. SixFrags and Slob won RunnerUp there with Mount Frost Amusements. The Wizard of OZ won a controversial VP at RCT2.com. For solo parks, Kumba had won 2 Runner-Up’s with Dimensions and Nirvana, Supertrooper won with Big Top Circus Park, Titan with Six Flags Hoosier Station, and AP with Babylon. In fact, the club NE RunnerUp count was up to 7 and 6 of those were right in a row! Also, Kumba and SixFrags had both won entries in the Pro Tour. The club was in full swing and had nine club parks released within one year!
18 months into this club and we really wanted PenguinBOB to come back into the fold, so we convinced him to come back. Hyperion and RCTFan were asked to leave due to inactivity, and wpnw quit RCT and left the club. CBAT was recruited. Then Verlo came up missing and Steve was invited into the club. This brought the member total to 15, and then DarkJanus decided to quit the club. We recruited JKay and xophe to bring the member count back up to 16. Then we recruited Tyandor and MadDawg (Iceman) to be 18 strong.
The club released three more parks: Iron Wood Valley won NE RunnerUp (Kumba and PenguinBOB), Tiumba: The Lost Islands won NE RunnerUp (Titan and Kumba), and Pleasure Ridge Park was a VP RunnerUp.
Club members were scoring big-time with their parks: Supertrooper won VP with Scarborough Faire, Titan got into the Pro Tour with Neptune’s Fury, Kumba got in with The Zodiac, SirSpinster was a contest RunnerUp at RCT2.com with Colors of Spring (WW), and SixFrags won VP with Sparkly Paradise, was RunnerUp in a Road Rally with Vodka Amusements, and got into the Pro Tour with Dragon Inferno. Jacko had a Road Rally RunnerUp with Madsen Valley Estate, Steve came in 2nd place for a RCTHQ contest with La Selva Cae, and JKay’s very first solo won RunnerUp at New Element – Thrill Zone Amusement Park! Xophe won VP with Billerica Bay, which later went on to win VP of the Year! Kumba and SixFrags finished 12th and 17th respectively in the Pro Tour. Titan never turned in an entry. AP also managed a RunnerUp with Roman Epic.
RCT Ultimate was formed in early 2002 by Gymkid at RCT Station. RCTI (AustinPowers) and RCTU (Gymkid) merged to become RCT Fusion in September, 2004. Both Gym and AP were heading off to college and thought combining the two clubs would be a good idea. So, a new infusion of members came into the club. Most never really made the transition, and only Artist and Turtle remain. X250 and OCF36 was recruited. Richie, deanosrs, muuuh, Ablaze, Thorpedo, Adonis, Loopy, leighx, and Aérôglòbe came into the club and then ended up leaving. CBAT, Angel, SirSpinster, Drew, Jacko, xophe, PenguinBOB, RCTFan, IndyJones, Iceman, Gym, and OCF36 eventually left the club. RCTNW joined up and Fusion Survivor contests brought RCTFan back and the club also invited trav. The club currently has 14 members.
Gluttony Gorge won VP, Hollandsche Glorie won a VP RunnerUp, Mystic Sands won a NE RunnerUp, and the latest club park to win VP was Mythologix. Buckeye Lake, Innovation Works, Digital Domains, Hyland Point, Teletopia, Underworld, and Walt Mart were released unfinished. Only Archicon was still in the construction phase. Archicon had come to represent the club in many respects. For one, it had been in construction since the very beginning of RCTI. It had also involved almost every member of the club’s history providing an interesting blend of styles. AP, therefore, felt it would be very fitting to end the club with its completion. This sentiment was shared with the other members and thus, with Archicon now complete, RCTFusion has come full circle and has decided to close its doors.
Archicon was originally a duo park between SirSpinster and Ello. The park eventually got put aside after Ello and SirSpinster left the club, so it then became an all club park. The original concept was to build a park with all different kinds of architecture and minimal rides. The end product doesn’t exactly stick to that original concept in terms of minimal rides, but the different types of architecture do remain.
This park was started in early 2003, therefore very little custom scenery was put into the bench. The park became difficult to work on due to that but AP wanted to see this park completed. As new club members came on board, the park was passed around to many to try to get this park done. 21 club members ended up contributing to this park: SirSpinster, Ello, AP, Tyandor, JackoShanty, IndyJones, Titan, PenguinBob, Iceman, Kumba, Drew, SixFrags, Richie, X250, RCTNW, Jkay, OhioCoasterFreak36, Steve, Supertrooper, Hulkpower, and Metropole. In addition, 5dave helped finish one of the last areas of the map. 5dave had won Survivor 3 and if the club would have not closed, 5dave would have been a Fusion member. So, altogether, 22 people present ARCHICON to all of you!
In the middle of the park, you will see buildings that SirSpinster and Ello built. There are also some buildings done by AP (the castle is one), and AP also did the club member names around that middle area of the park.
There are four entrance areas. IndyJones did the dark, spooky entrance area and kept to the architecture theme with no rides. Titan did the medieval entrance area. RCTNW built the wooden; King’s Quest in that area and 5dave finished off theming that area. PenguinBob did the entrance area where the peeps come in. Kumba built the last entrance area where the B&M woodie, Hurrumba is located.
Kumba also helped theme the area where the Gargoyle Flyer (made by Metropole) is. In addition, Kumba built the corkscrew The Silver Screamer in an area themed by Steve. To get this park finished, Kumba also took on another whole section and completed it – the area where the wooden coaster Spirit is located.
JackoShanty did the area where the Zoom go-karts ride is located. Hulkpower built the Leviathan floorless and finished that area. Supertrooper’s area includes the spiral coaster aptly named Terribly Twisted Tower. SixFrags area includes Color Twist, a spinning wild mouse. Drew’s area includes the invert named Horizon’s Edge. Iceman built the B&M Standup named Industrial Revolution and completed that surrounding area. Tyandor’s area includes the wooden coaster named Oasis. In addition, Tyandor filled in some areas around Supertrooper’s that included a dinghy slide ride called Down the Tubes. Richie built Aye Aye Captain, the suspended and X250 helped theme that area. Jkay and OhioCoasterFreak36 did some random theming and landscaping in spots around the park.
This park is over 4 years old and for not having much custom scenery; this has allowed the park to still be original and innovative after all this time. ARCHICON is finally complete, and so RCT Fusion can now rest in peace. It’s been a great ride and has spawned some great parks, great parkmakers, and great friendships.
After 5 years, the club has produced 24 club parks, 11 all Fusion member H2H parks, 2 all Fusion member NE designs, and innumerable solo parks, most winning awards. Fusion Members that became New Element Parkmakers include: Artist, JKay, Kumba, Metropole, RCTFan, SixFrags, Steve, Titan, Turtle, X250, Ablaze, metalface, and DarkJanus. RCT Fusion has had 54 different members, 35 of those were originally RCT Innovation members. This club has had a great impact on the RCT community!
AP would like to thank all of the members we’ve had over the years for everything they have done. This club would not have become what it is without all of you.