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Lord_Pigeonbane posted:
Aisha cared about Brain, but she also fully agreed with Taylor. The loving world(s) is coming to an end, it's time to sack up and go all-in whatever baggage you might have. It wouldn't really be in her character to hold a grudge over something like that. veekie posted:Agreed. OneTwentySix posted:I sort of feel like losing her powers is her chance to just live her own life and stop having to sacrifice everything for everyone. It's the only way she can have any sort of happy ending; she'd just start all over again if she could. I mean, at what point in the story would you say she was truly happy? There were happy moments, but it was just one crisis after another, struggling to protect people, and fighting with her own sense of right and wrong while being poo poo on by the universe. Here, she can finally go back and establish her relationship with her dad and just live a normal life. She'll probably end up in some sort of self-sacrificing career, but it'll be rewarding in a way that her previous life wasn't. I dunno, I really don't feel like lacking powers is going to stop her from seeking conflict and resolution. From square one her power was always kind of pisswig when looked at from the outside. It was her ambition and will that made her a terror.
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Nov 19, 2013 08:25
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Yes, but having powers at all made her feel obligated to use them. They increased the scope of situations where she could make a difference somehow, even if it was just by gathering information and coordinating. Losing her powers make her stick to just plain human ambitions. Which frankly are more than hard enough.
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Nov 19, 2013 09:31
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veekie posted:Yes, but having powers at all made her feel obligated to use them. They increased the scope of situations where she could make a difference somehow, even if it was just by gathering information and coordinating. Losing her powers make her stick to just plain human ambitions. True, and being stranded on a more or less normal world should help. I just mean that if a crisis does arise, she'll have a hard time not getting involved, cause that's just sort of hardwired into her. Also as a note on the story overall. Mad, mad, MAD props to Wildbow for finding a way to take down a ludicrously overpowered big bad without resorting to a deus ex. Taylor has kind of a Goku moment, but it didn't just happen. It felt like she, and by extension the story, earned it. I'm not sure I've ever read another story where a fight on that scale was solved with cleverness and wit in a way that didn't feel like it cheapened the scope. Edit: And I also just realized Tattletale literally told Taylor that Grue got sent off to live on a farm in countryside. No doubt where he could run around and chase chickens all day. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Nov 19, 2013 |
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Nov 19, 2013 09:36
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veekie posted:Yes, but having powers at all made her feel obligated to use them. They increased the scope of situations where she could make a difference somehow, even if it was just by gathering information and coordinating. Losing her powers make her stick to just plain human ambitions. Plus they literally made her feel obligated to use them, especially after they malfunctioned, because passengers are specifically designed to drive their hosts to generate conflict, remember?
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Nov 19, 2013 13:15
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So, Valkyrie made a brief appearance, watching a man try on a white bodysuit. In her epilogue chapter, it was hinted that she could possibly resurrect those who she had "claimed". Of those she claimed, the most notable who wore white was Clockblocker.
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Nov 19, 2013 15:57
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I didn't like the idea that Taylor lived because I thought her sacrificing herself for humanity was crucial to her narrative and what made her a remarkable hero character. So at first I was a bit miffed, but then one little interaction flipped me on the issue. Contessa spared her because she decided that she needed to die for the greater good. She knew that anyone who could do the terrible things Taylor did and feel wholly justified had lost their humanity. That was the test. Great ending.
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Nov 19, 2013 20:41
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White bodysuit related. In the comments wildbow got asked who the guy with the white suit was supposed to be. He just says it is a young man with red hair. That's enough confirmation for me. I now want the sequel to follow vista/clockblocker
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Nov 20, 2013 03:02
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packsmack posted:White bodysuit related. gently caress yeah! Clockblocker was the best side character.
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Nov 20, 2013 03:27
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That was probably the happiest ending Taylor could hope for. Its good that her dad lived. I always thought that he got a kind of poo poo deal and they never really got a chance to work through their issues after she was revealed as Skitter, at least onscreen. So it's good they'll have some relative normalcy to mend their relationship. I also agree that removing her powers was kind of beside the point, since that wasn't really what made her a threat that could take down Scion. If you think about it, she didn't really NEED to mind control anybody to enact the solution she did, that was just an expedient way to get them to stop being assholes who get in her way long enough to do what needed to be done. Even with the limiter taken off her power was kind of C list, it was only because she was the kind of person who could be given a hard limit and IMMEDIATELY cheat around it that she was the S Class threat she became. Someone like Contessa really wouldn't understand that, because it was all her power. She didn't even know why she was doing the things she was doing. She never really had to make a hard choice like Taylor did. Actually, her power was all about eliminating choices. That might have been part of why she ultimately decided to talk with Taylor instead of doing what was most expedient in taking her down, shooting her from outside the 16 foot radius before she knew she was there or something. She wanted to understand the weight of that kind of choice
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Nov 20, 2013 06:47
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Baby Babbeh posted:That might have been part of why she ultimately decided to talk with Taylor instead of doing what was most expedient in taking her down, shooting her from outside the 16 foot radius before she knew she was there or something. She wanted to understand the weight of that kind of choice I got the impression that it was more or less attempting to come to terms with just how ineffectual she was. Woman made herself into a monster far worse than Taylor and in the end had probably less impact. Yeah you can argue she set in motion some crazy chain of events that set Taylor on the right path, but that's all pretty thin comfort when Taylor did all the work while Contessa was out of things. Gotta suck being Contessa, she'll always have doubts. At least Taylor can find solace in having actually saved all of humanity, whatever it cost her.
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Nov 20, 2013 06:59
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Skippy McPants posted:I got the impression that it was more or less attempting to come to terms with just how ineffectual she was. Woman made herself into a monster far worse than Taylor and in the end had probably less impact. Yeah you can argue she set in motion some crazy chain of events that set Taylor on the right path, but that's all pretty thin comfort when Taylor did all the work while Contessa was out of things. I think it's more that she's finding that her power did all her work. Everything Cauldron did independently wound up not mattering at all, and sometimes nearly threatened to close off success. So many unnecessary and counterproductive things done, based on incorrect analysis of what the power's steps were doing. All the secrecy, distrust and division in the world turned out to be worth nothing at all in the endgame.
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Nov 20, 2013 07:19
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veekie posted:I think it's more that she's finding that her power did all her work. Everything Cauldron did independently wound up not mattering at all, and sometimes nearly threatened to close off success. So many unnecessary and counterproductive things done, based on incorrect analysis of what the power's steps were doing. All the secrecy, distrust and division in the world turned out to be worth nothing at all in the endgame. Yeah, that's exactly my point. She looks at Taylor and sees everything she completely failed to be, except a monster, which she totally kicked rear end at! I think people in general give Contessa's power too much credit. It's great for finding short term and immediate solutions, but figuring out anything complex or down the road requires asking the right questions. Something that depends on the cleverness of the person using the power and the person with Contessa's power is likely to be pretty lacking in wit. They've never had to actually be cunning because there's a built in crutch. It's like the gods in Discworld, who needs smarts when you've got power and mortals you can bully into being smart for you. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2013 07:37
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I don't know about everybody else in this thread, but I didn't know where the link for the information on Wildbow's next stuff was. So here's a link to his blog. E: I have an incredibly silly theory; throughout the story Taylor's stuff was in first-person and everybody else was third-person. After her shard was removed/destroyed/deactivated, she goes to third-person. The narrator was her shard all along 
Tollymain fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2013 08:23
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Tollymain posted:E: I have an incredibly silly theory; throughout the story Taylor's stuff was in first-person and everybody else was third-person. After her shard was removed/destroyed/deactivated, she goes to third-person. I took it as a deliberate stylistic choice to indicate that Taylor has transitioned from being the protagonist to just another player.
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Nov 20, 2013 09:38
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Yeah, that's a much better interpretation. It was basically a dumb joke that popped into my head that I needed to tell  On the subject of the next few candidates for stories, I'm most interested in seeing what Wildbow's biopunk stuff looks like.
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Nov 20, 2013 09:48
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Baby Babbeh posted:I also agree that removing her powers was kind of beside the point, since that wasn't really what made her a threat that could take down Scion. If you think about it, she didn't really NEED to mind control anybody to enact the solution she did, that was just an expedient way to get them to stop being assholes who get in her way long enough to do what needed to be done. Even with the limiter taken off her power was kind of C list, it was only because she was the kind of person who could be given a hard limit and IMMEDIATELY cheat around it that she was the S Class threat she became. I think we do keep forgetting that her power by this point had become a hideous mind-cancer that was turning her into a megalomanaiacal monster as it was slowly killing her. Furthermore, powers of any sort dramatically reduce one's chances of a peaceful life because of the shards' influence driving their hosts towards conflict. Let's not judge Contessa too harshly here.
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Nov 20, 2013 09:52
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Plus her power allowed her to focus on every single detail and multi task to an insane degree so a lot of her ability to break barriers and all the other insane ideas she had would probably have come from that.
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Nov 20, 2013 09:57
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Tollymain posted:I don't know about everybody else in this thread, but I didn't know where the link for the information on Wildbow's next stuff was. So here's a link to his blog. It was mooted a few times I think.
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Nov 20, 2013 10:00
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Darth Walrus posted:I think we do keep forgetting that her power by this point had become a hideous mind-cancer that was turning her into a megalomanaiacal monster as it was slowly killing her. Furthermore, powers of any sort dramatically reduce one's chances of a peaceful life because of the shards' influence driving their hosts towards conflict. Yeah, what Contessa did was a mercy. I'm sure the easier and less likely to cause problems down the line way would have been to just kill her. But I think her decision to give her a chance had as much to do with Contessa as Taylor. She needed some closure on the whole thing too.
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Nov 20, 2013 20:05
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 Took me five months, but it looks like I finished it just as it wrapped up. This is probably the most amazing, crazy, hosed up series I've ever read and I can't thank you enough for spreading the word about it. This is never going to happen because the story is just so loving dark, the arc with the happiest ending in the series features Taylor paralyzed , in pain and terrified with her broken arm handcuffed to a bed after helplessly watching as thousands of people are drowned , crushed and eviscerated but I keep thinking this would make an amazing animated series.
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Nov 22, 2013 08:03
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Ghetto Prince posted:
It could happen-- but not in the US. People in the US have this weird predisposition to assume anything hand-drawn or animated is babby-poo poo. Then, when they see an example to the contrary, they rail against it. It could go over well in Japan, though. Anime can be very adult and dark.
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Nov 22, 2013 17:17
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Blasphemeral posted:It could happen-- but not in the US. People in the US have this weird predisposition to assume anything hand-drawn or animated is babby-poo poo. Then, when they see an example to the contrary, they rail against it. Nothing is worth seeing anime Vista/Bonesaw/Aisha/any other adolescent female character.
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Nov 22, 2013 20:40
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New poster to this thread here. Holy poo poo this series is amazing, and probably one of my favorite reads in the last year. I was browing through the book barn earlier this week looking for something new to read and I decided to check out this thread since it was pretty active, reading the OP I decided to give the series a chance. Thankyou OP for starting this thread because I probably would have never stumbled upon Worm by myself. It's been less than 3 days since I opened the first chapter and I'm almost done with arc 11 already (30% of the way).  Quite frankly I'm amazed at the level of quality in the writing given that this is amateur work, it's easily superior to many published series I've read. I'm spending most of my free time reading Worm atm and I think I have at least another week or two before I mow through it. I look forward to reading the spoilered stuff. DrFrankenStrudel fucked around with this message at 07:53 on Nov 23, 2013 |
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Nov 23, 2013 07:41
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First sample chapter of Peer is out. http://wildbow.wordpress.com/
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Nov 23, 2013 07:50
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Didn't really reach out and grab me, but it was interesting nonetheless. I liked it.
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Nov 23, 2013 08:15
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gently caress, that was a lot more interesting than I expected the fantasy thing to be It's going to be a lot harder to decide than I thought. Wildbowwww 
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Nov 23, 2013 09:09
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Full disclosure, I like the fantasy genre a lot. I'm all in for this story. It sounds like a neat world. That mom is batshit. But also apparently kinda right?
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Nov 24, 2013 00:49
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I'm more than two-thirds of the way through Worm. It's really good; I like the messed-up and morally-ambiguous characters and creative uses of powers. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about Peer, though. It feels kind of generic so far. Also surprisingly lacking in likable characters; I can feel sorry for Cynn, but the main character is a lazy and cynical goon (if I'm completely honest, I might see a little too much of myself in him), the Kith are aggressively rude "noble savages," and most of the other characters seem to be backstabbing aristocrats who don't care about anything bigger than the success of their family members. Blasphemeral posted:It could happen-- but not in the US. People in the US have this weird predisposition to assume anything hand-drawn or animated is babby-poo poo. Then, when they see an example to the contrary, they rail against it. I'm not sure how well elements like Japan being essentially a Third World country due to a giant tsunami and the Japanese villains in the first arc would go over in Japan.
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Nov 24, 2013 03:52
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Silver2195 posted:I'm not sure how well elements like Japan being essentially a Third World country due to a giant tsunami and the Japanese villains in the first arc would go over in Japan. Are you kidding me? They eat that poo poo up.
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Nov 24, 2013 05:14
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Silver2195 posted:I'm more than two-thirds of the way through Worm. It's really good; I like the messed-up and morally-ambiguous characters and creative uses of powers. I think part of the reason that I liked the first chapter of peer was partially because there were these cliche characters. Near the end of the chapter the cynical goon is shown to have more of an intimate relation with the supernatural than he has narrated to us previously. At first he just seems unbelieving in the supernatural/the gods, but it turns out he is just trying to ignore that part of the world. I doubt that the archetypes will persist throughout the story. Considering the obvious amount of thought that was put into all of the side characters in worm I don't think that the characters that we are introduced too in this first chapter are quite as one dimensional as we are led to believe.
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Nov 24, 2013 06:02
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Can you imagine trying to judge Worm by its first chapter alone?
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Nov 24, 2013 17:46
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I'm pretty sure WildBow said that he thought that this was his weakest story in his mind, so I'm wondering if he's having a harder time writing it than he will the others.
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Nov 24, 2013 20:09
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Grundulum posted:Can you imagine trying to judge Worm by its first chapter alone? I did - we all did, in the end. It was enough to get me reading the second one. This would be too.
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Nov 24, 2013 23:07
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thespaceinvader posted:I did - we all did, in the end. It was enough to get me reading the second one. This would be too. My point was more to question all the people (not just here) who are trying to make sweeping pronouncements about the story based on just the first section of the first arc. I've seen comments (again, not necessarily on SA) to the effect of "strike against Peer for having a male protagonist" or "the characters didn't have a lot of depth to them". No poo poo? We've had basically enough text to learn names, setting, and a few relationships and people are complaining that the characters don't have depth?
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Nov 25, 2013 16:22
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say what you want about the first chapter of worm, when i first had it linked in the dresden thread, i read it, then i couldn't stop reading it straight through for a month. So, it was good enough to hook me.
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Nov 25, 2013 16:39
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On the other hand, I only read past the first chapter because everyone was talking about how good the series is, and I figured I might as well. I mean, it turned out amazing and I was hooked pretty quickly but man, when they started talking about capes I thought they meant, like, Africa.
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Nov 25, 2013 20:19
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Saith posted:On the other hand, I only read past the first chapter because everyone was talking about how good the series is, and I figured I might as well. I mean, it turned out amazing and I was hooked pretty quickly but man, when they started talking about capes I thought they meant, like, Africa. To be honest I sat on the first chapter for like two months because it didn't seem very good. I kept reading on the strength of what others wrote, but it picked up pretty fast in my opinion.
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Nov 26, 2013 01:39
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A new Ra update, From Darkness, Lead Me To Light, in which we learn some of what Natalie Ferno has been doing.
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Nov 26, 2013 02:52
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I'm starting to like where this new story is going.
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Nov 26, 2013 16:43
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(Talking about Peer 1.2) Dealing with intrigue in a story always seems like a risky move to me. Authors need to make sure their characters are smarter than the reader, lest characters make dumb moves that the reader is merely told are clever. Then the author needs to be smarter than the characters, since otherwise how could he/she write the smart characters and come up with their actions? The author gets an advantage, knowing what the characters and reader don't, but it still must be incredibly difficult to write convincing conniving. Either there's a trick I'm not aware of, or it really is that difficult to pull off well and those authors who do manage it deserve heaps of plaudits. Edit: I was going to mention the manga series Death Note as an example of this. Seems the people over at TV Tropes had a similar idea, given the leading picture. I should go back and reread that to see if it still seems clever. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 26, 2013 18:33
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