Have the post icons, the ones that explain whether a topic has new posts, whether it's "popular", etc...
have them be like the notes in guitar hero that come down. How they come down without the flames, and then have flames when you hit them.
For Instance;
Green Note = New posts
Green Note w/ Flames = New posts [ Popular ]
Red Note = No new posts
Red Note w/ Flames = No new posts [ Popular ]
I don't know about the others... perhaps different colors, or maybe have the icons come up as the notes that you can either HO or PO
New posts [ Locked ]
No new posts [ Locked ]
Announcement
Sticky
It's a Guitar Hero Board, why not trick it out all GH Style