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Worm 27.2 is up. Legion of Doom meetings are fun. I'm mad that we finally got to see the Blasphemies, but learn nothing about them, and then there are two new (presumably) S-class capes introduced -- Ash Beast and the Sleeper, I think their names were. Also I have no clue what Teacher's powers actually are, that he's so dangerous to the world. And, as a joke theory: The first thing Scion did as it approached Earth was give all capes their powers. The second thing he did was cure someone of cancer. So if this keeps going, everyone in the worlds will get cancer, and then Scion will revoke all the shards. Also, did we ever get an explanation for why there are capes on Earth Aleph?
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Aug 17, 2013 16:06
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SerSpook posted:So several possibilities for why Taylor went to talk with Shadow Stalker. Does she just want to forgive her because she can't forgive Bonesaw? Or does it have something to do with whatever Defiant motioned to the Undersiders about at one point, regarding Saint's role in Dragon's death and how he had "other options", whatever they were? Given the lines right before the break in narration, I think your first option is the correct one. Not enough to forgive her, not this easily. Not her. I think Defiant's comment about "other options" is a nod to the fact that (old spoilers, but covering just in case we get new readers) Taylor has singlehandedly taken down three (?) of Dragon's machines, with the Undersiders accounting for a few more. And that was with Dragon ostensibly in control, though she wasn't actually doing much for some of them. What chance do you think Saint has if Defiant convinces the Undersiders that his crew is a genuine threat? This serial could definitely use the Game of Thrones mini-series treatment. It seems to have all the makings for a popular series along those lines: superheroes, villains, clever use of powers (edit: Worm is just ridiculously good at this), gray morality, superb fight scenes, an excellent escalation in tension so far, willingness to abuse/kill off the characters as needed for story purposes, and plenty of mysteries. The big problems I see are that the gratuitous use of bugs would skeeve many people out if seen on TV (I'm one of them) (one way to do it could be to use "bug's eye" views that keep most of the critter off-camera) and that a lot of the series is spent in people's heads, which would take some work to adapt to the format of TV -- narration works fine on Arrested Development and Desperate Housewives, but I doubt it would fit well here. Edit also: Wildbow has said that she probably won't do any donation bonus interludes from here to the end of the story. So any bonus chapters we get will be on characters who survive whatever apocalyptic scenarios take place between now and then. It is therefore in our best interest as a community of readers to convince a publisher to pick her up and give her a hefty commission on the work -- the more of these chapters she has to write, the more likely your favorite character is to be the focus of one (i.e. survive the series). Grundulum fucked around with this message at 14:58 on Aug 18, 2013 |
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Aug 18, 2013 14:52
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I've been using she/her for the probably-sexist reason that Wildbow's avatar in the comment threads is a cute baby animal: http://en.gravatar.com/wildbow#pic-0
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Aug 18, 2013 18:16
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We could probably use a new thread just for Worm that laid some ground rules for spoilers in the OP. As long as new readers might be showing up, I prefer to err on the side of caution.
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Aug 23, 2013 19:39
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When I revived the thread, it had been dropping down the list -- may even have been on the second page. I think a new thread for "Worm (and other web serials)" is warranted, as opposed to the "Web serials (including Worm)" that we have right now. There is apparently a good deal of fanart if anyone cares to looks through it for an OP. I'm surely not going to.
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Aug 24, 2013 00:22
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Worm: Even on Earth Bet, the Star Wars prequels sucked
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Aug 27, 2013 04:30
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I couldn't agree more with the spirit of a commenter at the blog. The four words are "I hate these cliffhangers". Edit for a question: has Wildbow repeated the subject of an interlude? The only time I can think of was the entire chapter on the Travelers, which got its own number rather than the usual ##.x heading of an interlude. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 06:17
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I would point out that the current chapter closes with a character merely firing a lethal blast. We have been given no indication that it hit its intended target. Although Wildbow has subverted several tropes over the course of Worm, long history with authors suggests that we shouldn't read too deeply into the phrasing. Edit: The latest chapter seemed to share some semi-important elements with Brandon Sanderson's upcoming book, Steelheart. Quote from the usual plot blurb (spoilered because of its relevance to Worm) He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience. / He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 21:15
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For those people wanting to read Worm in a continuous form, my friend has found the Chrome app Readability. Took all however-many sections of the story and conjoined them into a single document. Edit: looks like it's more than just an app for Chrome. http://www.readability.com/apps The current length is more than 5000 pages of small text when previewed for printing, with an estimated 1.5-2.0 million words. Holy crap. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Aug 28, 2013 |
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Aug 28, 2013 18:48
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What is Eidolon's power again? It seems like recent developments are casting doubt on what I thought it was (i.e. whatever he felt he needed, limited to three or so different abilities at a time). 27.x spoilers: this new ability to draw powers from those around him seems pretty different from what he showed before. Could it be that he has the Cauldron powers and then something of his own? Or do the two powers tie together in a way I just can't see?
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Aug 29, 2013 23:02
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withak posted:How did he get it to combine everything? I can only get Readability and Instapaper to grab one chapter at a time. Though with the prev/next links working fine and the app keeping track of my progress, this is pretty much good enough for me. According to my friend, "the version I loaded in Chrome seems to be the whole thing. I clicked 'read now' on the first page (Gestation 1.1), and that was it." Though he did note that, "I tried sending it to my kindle and it only sent some of the subchapters." Good luck!
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Aug 30, 2013 20:19
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What is the Scar in Brockton Bay? I seem to have glazed over whatever event(s) caused it, and it gets a lot of references after the fact.
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Sep 1, 2013 20:36
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By the way, is Doctor Mother's name really (28.1, IIRC) Mengele? Or was that just Tattletale trying to get a rise out of the woman?
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Sep 4, 2013 21:46
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Dietrich posted:Does anyone have a link to the chapter where Simurgh did the communication block? I want to re-read that section. It's one of the interludes where Panacea is in the Birdcage. At the very end, if I recall. Edit: Got it -- http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/ -------- Haven't been saying much lately about these new chapters. It's just a little bit difficult to put  and  into words. Don't know how Wildbow does it so consistently and so well.
Grundulum fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Sep 5, 2013 |
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Sep 5, 2013 17:16
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Converse (first syllable stressed) has a logical meaning: "If A then B" is the statement "If B then A" is the converse "If not A then not B" is the inverse "If not B then not A" is the contrapositive In practice most people don't distinguish between the inverse and the converse since they are logically equivalent.
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Sep 6, 2013 04:46
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Email all yer favorite authors to plug the series, and maybe one will pass along Worm to a proper publishing house!
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Sep 11, 2013 14:38
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28.6 was goooood. Lots of callbacks to characters we haven't seen in a while. Holy poo poo the Simurgh communicating with Taylor.  Can't wait for the fallout from that. Also, I'm wondering when Tattletale will pick up on Scion's powers-limited lifespan. Humanity doesn't need to win the fight -- they just need to extend the draw/loss long enough that Scion croaks under his own power usage.There was also a pretty good comment by Wildbow (who doesn't seem to be correcting people using the pronoun "he", so I guess I was wrong) after 28.5 about why he won't attempt the traditional publishing route. Here it is. Not that he'll turn down any publishers who make first contact, he just doesn't expect anything to come out of the traditional approach that he couldn't do better on his own. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Sep 14, 2013 |
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Sep 14, 2013 05:45
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Worm: The answer to "Can it get worse?" is always "yes" Cool chapter, though. Lots of insight into many of the characters featured. Especially the Simurgh. She's plotting something, and given how the last few chapters have gone, it's probably more complicated than just taking out Scion. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Sep 17, 2013 |
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Sep 17, 2013 05:51
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Yeah, it's kind of a quintessential "the reason evil wins is because good is dumb" moment.
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Sep 17, 2013 20:37
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veekie posted:29.1 Scion seems less invulnerable now, what with having stains and stuff on him, and actually putting up an effort on defense. I reckon all those powers he deflected or blocked could have wounded him. Anyone he guns for aggressively could have killed him. Remember Scion's power source. It might not be worth his time (  ) to take care of all those things at this point.
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Sep 19, 2013 15:17
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Man, Monday and Friday nights are the best. As Worm has progressed, I've gotten less and less out of my readthroughs of each fight scene. I'm eventually going to reread the entire series, so it's not such a huge deal, but I wonder why that is. Is it that I'm reading faster because I'm more involved in the story? Is Wildbow getting more terse describing the fights, so that a skipped sentence carries much more descriptive weight? Is the writing getting frantic and frenetic to match the story environment in which these fights are happening? Is Wildbow just creeping closer and closer to missing a deadline, so new chapters get less revision before being published? 
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Sep 21, 2013 05:28
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Is it pretty much accepted then that (Ch. 28) Eidolon's powers come from either the partner or the third worm? 'Cause there's no way Scion would have knowingly left a shard capable of creating the Endbringers, whose movements aren't predictable to him.
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Sep 22, 2013 06:55
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TOOT BOOT posted:I just realized why Grue picked that particular name, can't believe it didn't click until 1,000,000+ words into the story. Do you have something to share with the class, Mr. TOOT BOOT? (I didn't get the reference until I was typing out this post, so I will leave it up here as a badge of shame. Holy hell, does Wildbow continue to amaze.)
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Sep 23, 2013 04:38
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29.3 was another exemplar of the "slow can be awesome" paradigm. I really enjoy the interactions between the characters in this series. Spoilers now: I kind of wish Shadow Stalker had used a knife for something nonlethal. Would have been a show of force while still holding true to the "You're still not going to use that knife" statement that Spur made. Would also have been completely in character for her to be pissed off at being played like that.
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Sep 24, 2013 05:50
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Why are you treating the human form and the worm as separate entities? My (fake) money is on the human form being a Siberian-like projection.
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Sep 24, 2013 21:37
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So what you're saying is that I should go back and read the Scion interlude again to catch all these details I missed. I guess.
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Sep 24, 2013 22:52
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^ One of the many things I enjoy about this series. ^ 29.4: Well, I suppose at this point we know how this is going to go to 30 chapters. I was kind of worried for a bit that it would end at 29. Not that I expect it to happen, but Shadow Stalker had better not do the heroic sacrifice thing. I won't believe it for a second and it will really undermine Wildbow's credibility with these characters. As an addendum, seems rather definitively that Wildbow is male. Asks on the donations page that cheques (because he's Canadian, apparently!) be made out to "John".
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Sep 26, 2013 05:30
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NecroMonster posted:Worm 29.5 welp, next chapter is going to be a loving nightmare. I don't know how to interpret this other than Scion is about to attack them. Maybe Satyrical is bluffing, but my gut tells me he's not and things are about to get really really loving bad. I agree with you; I can't think of anyone else those few lines could be referring to. For added excitement, apparently we're getting an interlude this coming Tuesday instead of a Taylor-centric chapter. Hopefully it will involve Doctor Mother, the Custodian, or the Doormaker. The latter two might be difficult to write, but could be a ton of fun for us the readers.
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Sep 28, 2013 05:59
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Hmm, who do we know who wouldn't be slowed down in the slightest by a half-mile of solid steel? Oh, right, Shadow Stalker. Well played, Taylor, well played. I guess Scion wouldn't either, but I doubt they're about to ask him for help.
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Sep 28, 2013 16:29
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I can't decide if I prefer having to wait between each new segment of Worm (get it?  ), which builds a huge amount of tension, or if I would rather the entire thing be released at once so I can blaze through breathlessly as things build up faster and faster.I thought the first arc (through Chapter 8) was relentless, but this has just been something else entirely.
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Oct 3, 2013 19:12
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Thread title change request: Worm: You ain't seen poo poo yet. It can always get worse I keep trying to get my friends to read this, and they keep having other things to do/read. It's eating at me like Malazan did not being able to share the  with people in real life.(There really needs to be a growing animation like the one for psyduck. 30x30 pixels just isn't enough.)
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Oct 3, 2013 19:33
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Lprsti99 posted:I think I'll try to read this again. It's definitely not the easiest thing to get into, but I found it incredibly rewarding. There were many, many scenes where I couldn't control my reactions and found myself swearing out loud, giggling maniacally (if not outright cackling), or jumping up and down over what had happened in the books. The Malazan series also has some of the most elements of any series I can recall. To wit: a sword that doesn't just kill you, but eats your soul and chains you to a wagon that must be pulled eternally lest it be annihilated by the physical essence of chaos. Also, your soul eventually withers to the point where you can pull no longer, after which the other souls throw you onto the wagon -- on top of the massive pile of souls that previously became too weak to pull.It also has the "it can always get worse" motif in common with Worm.
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Oct 3, 2013 21:02
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Lord_Pigeonbane posted:29.8 Looks like I was wrong about Doc Mama. Yeah, having one's remains described in detail using the phrases "severing ... in half" or "if any part ... had still been alive" does preclude being reintroduced to the story by anyone short of Bonesaw. I don't think even Panacea could do anything at that point.
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Oct 5, 2013 09:26
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Well, Wildbow is on the record saying that the Sleeper will be dealt with in a sequel, so we might not see everything wrapped up with a bow and stuff.
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Oct 7, 2013 02:09
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Or these unfinished plot threads could be the seeds for future works set in the Worm universe. It's been known to happen. Wheel of Time did it (though Jordan died before writing any of the outriggers). Malazan did it, and in fact left so much unfinished there are two authors working in that universe right now. I'll be satisfied if we see Taylor's arc come to a conclusion -- which means dealing with that little problem they've had for a few arcs now, which can definitely be wrapped up by arc 30 if that's where Wildbow chooses to end it.
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Oct 7, 2013 14:21
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OmniBeer posted:Venom 29.9 Spoilers: Why should this be bad? I'm pretty sure the Rule of Cool was originally written with the upcoming scenes in mind. (29.9) If Taylor can control more than just bugs, her encyclopedic knowledge of so many capes' powers and her ability to plan could make her very dangerous to Scion. On one hand, it could be quite effective. On the other hand, more than a little bit monstrous. (Very Nietzsche-esque, though, with plenty of opportunities for abyss-staring.) Really enjoying how appropriate the title change winds up being.
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Oct 8, 2013 05:42
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TOOT BOOT posted:I'm of the opinion her being called the Queen/Administrator has significance so maybe she will end up controlling the heroes. She's allowed to come up with the questions herself. We saw that during the interlude when she'd lie to Coil about how many questions she could answer; she always saved at least one for herself to ask "What are the odds I ever get let go?" Edit: Correction. Looks like she didn't lie, she just put herself through some extra pain to ask. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 06:00
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NecroMonster posted:Worm; Oh jesus what did you do Taylor. Why do you assume that the character who held up her picture is necessarily acting in the best interests of humanity?
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Oct 12, 2013 08:00
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Dietrich posted:Her father had the same shard, just never triggered. I know exactly the scene you're referring to, but I didn't think that was supposed to be Taylor.
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Oct 14, 2013 14:31
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Virigoth posted:Hnrrrrrggggggg New thread title. What if, in addition to these new abilities, Taylor also gained the ability to unlock or repair other shards? Wasn't that something Scion was doing with her shard before he arrived at the Earths?
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Oct 15, 2013 14:01
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