Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Greybane » March 29th, 2013, 2:26 am

So, bets on who is coming for Taylor? My money is on Dragon.
Odd that. It actually worked.
User avatar
Greybane
 
Posts: 1114
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Darkandus » March 30th, 2013, 9:11 am

This is going to have... repercussions.
Spoiler: show
Image
User avatar
Darkandus
 
Posts: 3003
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Greybane » April 2nd, 2013, 3:28 am

Well, I hadn't thought of that way of getting out at all. Congrats Taylor.
Odd that. It actually worked.
User avatar
Greybane
 
Posts: 1114
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Darkandus » April 2nd, 2013, 1:07 pm

That was a good chapter.

So, so good.

I'm going to have to give it another read, just to bask in its brilliance.
Spoiler: show
Image
User avatar
Darkandus
 
Posts: 3003
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Ristridin » April 3rd, 2013, 1:37 pm

Spoiler: show
One of the best parts of this chapter:
One of the worst possible things had just happened to me, with my secret identity becoming public knowledge, and here I was, unarmed without a single idea on how to get out of this… and the good guys were playing it safe. I smiled; I couldn’t help it.
Couldn't stop smiling when I read this either.

And then she got a 1/3 approval rating by the students. Followed by FINALLY getting some credit for her deeds. And Dragon is now free (although potentially damaged). This will be interesting.

So, who else is hoping there will be an interlude with reactions to the videos of this event?
Kingdom Hearts: Visions of Destiny Manual
User avatar
Ristridin
 
Posts: 763
Joined: January 23rd, 2011, 12:46 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby ewuvi » April 3rd, 2013, 2:00 pm

Spoiler: show
Heh. Yeah, that part. That reminded me a bit of The Doctor in that everyone seems to be more nervous around her when she's cornered and unarmed. Actually, yeah, she's kind of like The Doctor in a lot of ways.

I really want an interlude from Clocky's PoV. He seems to be developing a Skitter Complex. I want to know why he was so desperate to catch her. Also lawlz at him trying to imitate the trick she came up to stop Noelle.
Taylor as a companion to The Doctor...the degree of problem solving they could manage would be kind of scary, actually.
User avatar
ewuvi
 
Posts: 3879
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Darkandus » April 4th, 2013, 7:32 pm

Spoiler: show
Well, that interlude was illuminating. Slaughterhouse 9 just became several magnitudes worse.

What a nightmare.
Spoiler: show
Image
User avatar
Darkandus
 
Posts: 3003
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby serbii » April 4th, 2013, 9:31 pm

Spoiler: show
I don't like them, I wish Wildbow would just let them die. They're the worst villains in it IMHO. With so many more interesting things going on and then like: AND THEN WE HAVE THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE REALLY STRONG AND REALLY EVIL FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN BEING REALLY EVIL! LET'S ADD MORE OF THEM!
No.
There are much more interesting characters and things around. Please do not keep dragging out the nine. They were my least liked antagonist.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby ewuvi » April 4th, 2013, 9:53 pm

Spoiler: show
They're not scary. They're one-dimensional and bland. Honestly, the only time I skipped/skimmed chapters was during the S9 arc. They were just. So. Damn. Boring.
User avatar
ewuvi
 
Posts: 3879
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Darkandus » April 5th, 2013, 12:00 pm

Spoiler: show
I don't find them totally abrasive, although I'm not fond of them. I think the concept of the S9 by itself isn't flawed, but the way it was implemented was. I think in a way they were meant to be a dark mirror to the Undersiders, but their threat level was blown way out of proportion and because of that when they didn't turn out to be as dangerous as they supposedly were it just inspired a lot of apathy around them.

Jack Slash could have worked perfectly well as a counterpoint to Skitter, seemingly mediocre power, strange charisma around them, holding together disparate team mates with very different personalities and managing their abilities to maximize their effect, but in the end we just ended up with Joker lite, and I'm not a fan of the Joker anyway.

Bonesaw and Crawler share the position of my least favorite characters in the entire serial. Crawler was just straight up boring invincible monster, he would have worked better as a roaming near mindless pseudo endbringer. Bonesaw seems to exist entirely as the token creepy child, meant to elicit feelings of disgust and horror, but it ends up falling so flat that I just can't take her seriously.

Shatterbird...complete non entity, she seemed to exist solely to showcase Regents full power as well as tossing him a cheap offensive upgrade which could be taken away at any time.

Cherish was potentially interesting, giving insight into Regent and her own childhood, and could have developed into something really interesting, but nope, turned into an environmental hazard by Bonesaw.

Burnscar, Siberian and Hatchet job are all super boring.

Mannequin to me was the only really interesting member of the S9. And I think he would have been more interesting as a separate entity, rather than working in a group.

Really, I could say the same of most of them, they really suffered from being introduced as part of the same group. The entire cloning thing seems to me to be an attempt to actually try and make the S9 feel like a real world ending threat, but in the end it just feels silly.

So, TL;DR potentially good concept, poor implementation. Really, the worst part of it is that we're going to have to deal with reading about more of the S9 as they become more important in verse.
Spoiler: show
Image
User avatar
Darkandus
 
Posts: 3003
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby ewuvi » April 5th, 2013, 5:56 pm

Spoiler: show
Shatterbird at least had an interesting backstory as of The Lost Interlude which we can assume is still canon. It made her character more interesting, but didn't ever show in story. And then she immediately died. Boo.

I also liked the implications of Burnscar's back story in regards to what the cost of powers are to your brainz, and her interaction with Elle made her a tiny bit sympathetic. At least more interesting with Jack Slash or Bonesaw. Ugh Bonesaw you are the wooorrrsst. Worst. Creepy kids work only when you aren't focusing on them for any length of time. At least give them something to go off other than "I am soooo creepy and scary and that's soooo unexpected cause I'm adorable!". Jack Slash isn't even funny.

I agree though. None of them are compelling characters. I'm sort of annoyed that there will be at least one more arc centered on them. -___-
User avatar
ewuvi
 
Posts: 3879
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Darkandus » April 5th, 2013, 6:20 pm

Spoiler: show
I have a horrible feeling that they're going to become the reoccurring villain group which shows up every few arcs, which curbs my enthusiasm a bit. I can only hope he manages to pull off something satisfactory in regards to them, but right now the only thing I could see being satisfactory is them becoming a total non-issue. Maybe the world ending threat being something Jack knocks into motion, rather than involving him in any major way so we can just be done with them.
Spoiler: show
Image
User avatar
Darkandus
 
Posts: 3003
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby ewuvi » April 5th, 2013, 8:57 pm

Spoiler: show
Worm is scheduled to end soon, by Word of God. So at least the S9 can't be around for that many more arcs. Someone mentioned that Gray Boy might just kill them all, which would be a fabulous twist imho. I'm hoping for that. And that Gray Boy is deeper than the rest of the 9.
User avatar
ewuvi
 
Posts: 3879
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Ristridin » April 9th, 2013, 12:04 pm

Spoiler: show
I've decided I like Accord. I'm not sure why, but it's probably either that he became a villain to end world hunger, or that he was thinking about making overly elaborate death traps. That last part is really neat by the way. His power actually explains why he is prone to build death traps, unlike some other movie villains who really should have no reason to do so.

Current chapter gave me a hollow feeling. Nothing seems to be gained by harassing the PRT. I am glad Taylor didn't actually attack the wife though (misread that the first time). Tagg is playing an ugly game though.
Edit: Edited/removed a few parts because I misread something.
Kingdom Hearts: Visions of Destiny Manual
User avatar
Ristridin
 
Posts: 763
Joined: January 23rd, 2011, 12:46 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Greybane » May 12th, 2013, 3:21 am

Holy CRAP, Alexandria!
Odd that. It actually worked.
User avatar
Greybane
 
Posts: 1114
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby serbii » May 12th, 2013, 7:03 am

Image

As much as this serial tends towards an increasingly annoying degree of 'It got worse' and pyrrhic victories this one made me happy.
Spoiler: show
Also if it's coming down to Grue or Bitch, I'm hoping it's Grue who's dead. He's not particularly interesting.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Ristridin » May 12th, 2013, 3:12 pm

Spoiler: show
I wonder about the impact of killing Tagg and (possibly) Alexandria. It seems something like this can only have bad consequences for Taylor... Having said that, this was still a CMoA for Taylor.

Grue seems more likely to have died because he could have been a real threat to Alexandria and was possibly in a bad state of mind, having just lost his sister. Rachel couldn't really threaten Alexandria and would be much easier to take down in a non-lethal way. I also hope Rachel survived by the way, so it might just be wishful thinking. On the other hand, I hope Alexandria will not survive.
Kingdom Hearts: Visions of Destiny Manual
User avatar
Ristridin
 
Posts: 763
Joined: January 23rd, 2011, 12:46 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby serbii » June 22nd, 2013, 9:51 pm

Huh. Pleasantly surprised with how that turned out.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Ristridin » June 23rd, 2013, 5:03 am

Huh. Pleasantly surprised with how that turned out.
That's a rather extreme understatement of the way I'm feeling about this.
Kingdom Hearts: Visions of Destiny Manual
User avatar
Ristridin
 
Posts: 763
Joined: January 23rd, 2011, 12:46 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby serbii » June 23rd, 2013, 5:22 am

Spoiler: show
One of my biggest problems with Worm is that every victory seems to lead to things somehow getting worse, it wouldn't matter but Wildbow just keeps doing it and if you don't put the odd hope spot in between, keep one victory a victory then you kind of reach eye rolling stage . Things are just constantly going downhill with nothing really gained*. But if this pans out it's worth the sacrifice. Hence my pleasant surprise, I was expecting things to continue to go to hell, but provided there's no new Endbringer taking his place, the number of people they lost is arguably worth it.

*Oh hey! We beat the S9, except some got away, and we threw the teenage healer in the worst jail on the planet. Dinah's out! Dinah's either being used or chose a path that lead to outing Taylor! Oh hey we beat Noelle! Whoops! PRT's falling apart. And guess what! The S9 can clone all their old members**! Killed Alexandria! Cauldron can still use Alexandria!
and so on
I guess they got control of the city, which Taylor promptly gave up.

**Fingers crossed Grey Boy just kills them all and makes a better antagonist. I do not like the S9.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Ristridin » June 23rd, 2013, 6:02 am

Spoiler: show
I would argue this particular victory would be worth practically every cost. In my eyes, 'pleasant surprise' doesn't quite compare to the extreme shock and happiness the world must be experiencing now. Unlike what people had been thinking for years now, these things CAN be destroyed. It's the end of decades of terror and the slow death of the world. It's HOPE. It brought tears of happiness to my eyes the first time I read the scene. And the second and third time as well.
Kingdom Hearts: Visions of Destiny Manual
User avatar
Ristridin
 
Posts: 763
Joined: January 23rd, 2011, 12:46 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby serbii » June 23rd, 2013, 6:14 am

extreme shock and happiness the world must be experiencing now
I am hoping they show some of that. I mean, biggest party the world has ever seen right?
'pleasant surprise' doesn't quite compare
Heh, I will simply point out I am Australian, we still speak like the British when it comes to understatement.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby Ristridin » June 24th, 2013, 4:48 am

I am hoping they show some of that. I mean, biggest party the world has ever seen right?
They might be hesitant at first. Afraid to believe it maybe. But yeah, they'll be partying. I would not be surprised if the next update is a bonus interlude with reactions (at least, some of them, from someone's perspective).
Heh, I will simply point out I am Australian, we still speak like the British when it comes to understatement.
Guess that's definite proof I am neither Australian nor British then. :-)
Kingdom Hearts: Visions of Destiny Manual
User avatar
Ristridin
 
Posts: 763
Joined: January 23rd, 2011, 12:46 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby ewuvi » August 6th, 2013, 7:23 pm

So I think my reaction to the last few chapters can easily be summed up with the following


Sliiiight language warning I suppose.
Spoiler: show
Image
Spoiler: show
It's like Worm ended and suddenly a new story with some of the same characters started and I am lost and confused and I don't care about any of the main characters anymore. Also, like, Skitter's complete lack of new applications of her abilities beyond a couple token things like the insect writing is weird to me. If anything she got substantially weaker. It does not feel like there was a two year timeskip, and I'm not seeing why becoming Weaver mattered at all.
User avatar
ewuvi
 
Posts: 3879
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Worm (web serial) discussion thread

Unread postby PencilMonkey » October 8th, 2014, 11:47 am

So, is anybody reading Wildbow's new webfic, Pact, and want to discuss it? And if so, should it get a separate thread of its own?
If you're looking for fan drawings of Harry Potter, Naruto, and plenty more besides, come check out:

My Tumblr

My DeviantArt page
User avatar
PencilMonkey
 
Posts: 30
Joined: October 8th, 2014, 5:19 am
Website: http://pencil-monkey.tumblr.com/


Return to “%s” Geek Culture

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users

cron