Tag: Parahumans

End of Interlude 11d

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

Well. That was disturbing.

Pinkie Pie is a fantastic villain, a crazed psychopath who turns people into cupcakes while acting like nothing’s wrong and she’s just having a fun time with the victim. That’s horror gold right there, and a character whose return in Worm is going to be interesting.

Not least of all because next time we see her, she presumably won’t be a pink pony. This whole Interlude seems to be set in an alternate world where everyone’s a magical pony, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why. Couldn’t we just have had this plot with the human counterparts to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash in the main Wormverse? Was this meant to show us the sort of variety there can be between the multiverse’s worlds?

I feel like ultimately, the chapter suffers from that decision, mainly because we have no true guarantee that the human Pinkie Pie won’t be significantly different from the pony Pinkie Pie in ways other than just species. On top of that, what little details we got about the pony world seem very out of place for the tone of Worm.

This chapter was also way more graphic than anything else we’ve seen in Worm before in terms of gore. Mixed with the tonal dissonance of the pony world, this somehow seems both more childish and more adult than the average Worm chapter.

So overall, this chapter feels weird and rather out of place, much like Interlude 2 did when I read that exacty one year ago.

There’s probably a reason for that. April Fool’s! ;D

Interlude 11d (Anniversary Bonus)

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It’s that time again! Let’s meet our fourth Slaughterhouse member.

So, who do we have left…

  • Bonesaw
  • Mannequin
  • Shatterbird
  • Crawler
  • Hatchet Face
  • a thus far unnamed female newbie

I feel like going with the newbie this time would be a good way to create some continuity between this and the last chapter, similar to Siberian being brought up by Burnscar and possibly Jack (though now that I remember the existence of Crawler, chances are they’re the implied human-eater). That said, it also feels a little early?

Besides, it’s entirely possible we won’t get a chapter about the newbie at all (and Hatchet Face takes that spotlight slot), and we’ll have to learn about her through the Undersiders when they’re surprised by her existence on the enemy team.

If we’re not meeting the newbie or Hatchet Face this time, maybe… Shatterbird? Just a random guess, really.

Whomever we’re meeting today, though, I’m sure it’ll be good. Let’s just jump right into it!

End of Interlude 11c

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This was a really solid chapter. We got to learn a little more about Elle/Labyrinth and to a much lesser extent Spitfire and Shamrock, Gregor got to be the MVP putting up a strong but losing fight alongside his allies, and perhaps most importantly, we were introduced to two new characters: High and sober Burnscar.

Burnscar, Mimi, is a victim of circumstance and addiction who believes that to survive, she needs to continue hurting people, to keep herself in the fiery high that comes with her power. (I don’t even know if I mean that last thing as a reason or as another thing she thinks she needs to do, but I think it might be both.) In her intoxicated state, she becomes, well… evil, by some definitions, dropping her moral and empathetic inhibitions and losing herself in the swirling inferno of her power. But when she’s sober, she’s a pretty decent person, really, one wracked with guilt that she goes back to the fire to avoid.

Anyway, point is: She’s a fantastic character, and far more sympathetic than I expected any of the Fellowship to be… Hey, Slaughterhouse, how ‘bout we trade? Rachel for Mimi?

No? Fair enough.

Another interesting detail we’ve learned: Hatchet Face has been replaced, though he’s still “kinda” around. So we’ve got someone in the mix who wasn’t on the list, with a power that helps her “find” people. Maybe we’ll meet her in one of the upcoming Interludes.

So yeah. This was a good time, up to and including the sad final part. 🙂

I think it’s time to give up the idea that we’ll be learning who the nominees are just yet, by the way, since neither Jack’s nor Mimi’s chapters ended up actually telling us. Other than that, though, we are definitely keeping up this pattern of meeting Slaughterhouse members one by one, and it’s working very well so far.

Next time… another POV character, another Slaughterhouse member.

See you then!

Interlude 11c (Anniversary Bonus)

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

Howdy! According to the donut companies, enough time has passed that I should begin reading another chapter of Worm. In reality, though, time is just a conspiracy to sell more donuts. Don’t believe their round, sugarcoated lies! Wake up, sheeple!

But I “will” play their little game. I “will” “currently” “begin” liveblogging Interlude 11c, and I “will” have fun doing so, regardless of “when” the donut companies say I have it.

So, in the previous Interlude, we got to meet Jack Slash. We also found out who his first choice for a nominee was, but we didn’t find out who he’s actually going to bring. That’s a blank that might prove relevant in a later chapter, to introduce an unexpected nominee, catching anyone who thought they’d seen them all by then off guard.

In this one, we’ll meet our third Slaughterhouse Nine member. As for who that’ll be and who our POV character will be, I don’t have much to work with. I’m just going to randomly guess… Bonesaw?

Let’s just jump in and find out!

End of Interlude 11b

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That was fun.

Jack Slash is a loveable (as a character) psychopath who kills because the impact he can have on the world by doing so is interesting to him. He likes to not know outcomes, likes seeing how things turn out if he flips this switch instead of that one…

Jack Slash would probably love having Coil’s power.

And then we have Theo, the other character we focused on here – a son of Kaiser who wants to use his eventual powers for good rather than evil, one who’d challenge Jack Slash when faced with seemingly inevitable death, one who is now forced to hurry up and become a cape powerful and skilled enough to take down Jack himself, or face Jack going out of his way to kill a thousand people explicitly as punishment for Theo’s failure.

I didn’t care much for Theo back in Interlude 3½, but this made me like him quite a bit. Jack turned out to be quite enjoyable too, and together they made this a chapter I really like.

Next time… another place, another face. Maybe a Hatchet one? I don’t know, and I don’t have much to go on to make an educated guess about who’s next, but I do know that this seems to have confirmed my suspicion that the Anniversary Bonus Interludes would be about each Slaughterhouse member. Just, not from their POVs.

So yeah, see you then!

Interlude 11b (Anniversary Bonus)

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Howdy! It’s bloggerin’ time!

So. Last time, Rachel was approached by Siberian and asked to consider joining the Slaughterhouse Nine. It’s not a development I had expected, but it makes sense.

This time, I think we might be in for another chapter involving a member of the Fellowship of the Meat. We may or may not continue following Rachel. Perhaps we’ll see one of the other Brockton Bay locals get their invitation to the test? That being the format for each of these Interludes would be a good excuse to focus on one Slaughterhouse member at a time without necessarily making them POV characters.

If that’s the case, I guess I’m expecting one of these Interludes to be from Hookwolf’s POV. Could be a good opportunity to find out more about what’s going on among the Chosen as well.

I doubt that’s this particular one, though. It just seems to me that you might want to avoid the Rachel and Hookwolf Interludes being consecutive. Maybe I’m wrong, though.

So yeah. Without further ado, let’s just jump in and see what we’ve got!

End of Interlude 11a

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That was a good time. A very interesting chapter with… way more talk of My Little Pony on my part than one might’ve expected regarding a chapter about Rachel and Siberian. 😛

In order, this chapter gave us:

  • Seemingly happy Rachel
  • Seemingly happy Rachel questioning why she’s less happy than the other Undersiders
  • A look at Rachel’s feelings about Taylor and the events of Parasite
  • A look into Rachel’s backstory and why family isn’t among her top values (fuck Rachel’s third foster mom)
  • Bitch dealing with a civilian thinking he could get off with shooting at Angelica (what’s gonna happen to that guy anyway? is he dead? or is he just going to be lying there until someone dares go get him and take him to a hospital and/or Panacea?)
  • A short but entertaining fight between Brandish & Glory Girl and Bitch
  • Cut short by our first meeting with a Slaughterhouse Nine member
  • Siberian, who is great, freaky, and freakily great (and I love the angle of Rachel finding someone she can relate to in a Slaughterhouse member)
  • Rachel choosing to fail her challenge of loyalty and go see what the Slaughterhouse’s test is all about
  • wolf pupy

So basically, lots of really good stuff.

Next up… maybe more Rachel? If she’s going to the Slaughterhouse’s test, then she might act as our POV to get to know the rest of the members as well, allowing us to have a Slaughterhouse Nine Interlude half-Arc without actually looking through the eyes of the members we’re examining.

Then again, maybe Wildbow has done pretty much all he wanted to do from Rachel’s perspective for now and we’ll have another POV next time. I do feel like we’ll still be checking out Fellowship members, though, so it’s just a matter of who we’ll be following and whose perspective we’ll see them from.

I guess I should throw a wild guess out there… maybe we’ll find out about Hatchet Face next?

So yeah! This was fun. See you next time!

Interlude 11a

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WOO PARTY TIME

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Howdy! It’s time to celebrate the first year of Worm with eight consecutive Interludes! And hey, this is my five thousandth post on this blog, so there’s that too. 😛

So, what are we in for in Interlude 11a? I think I’ve made my predictions on that clear – chances are we’re in for Jack Slash, or one of the other members of the Fellowship of the Meat (in which case I’ll be expecting Jack in Interlude 11h). If we don’t get either, though… I’ll probably be fucked as far as predicting who we’ll be checking on in each Interlude goes.

If we are meeting the Slaughterhouse in this half-Arc, we’re probably getting some brutal behavior.

Without further ado… let’s get this party started!

End of Infestation 11.8

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

This was a decent wind-down chapter.

We got to talk to Charlotte and Sierra about how to continue from here, and I correctly predicted that they would both end up as Skitter’s drones, minions, employees, whatever you want to call them. Granted, I also predicted the same would happen with Bryce, just because I expected it to happen with Sierra and didn’t think they’d be separated, but I’m much more pleased with the actual outcome.

Then we had a nice little chat with Brian, in which he and Taylor agreed to let their tension be water under the bridge and move on as friends. I’m glad we got to see that.

This wasn’t the most exciting chapter, but I’m overall happy with it and its outcomes, and the high note of a cautiously optimistic Taylor capping off an Arc in which her mood has been characterized by anxiety and guilt.

Next chapter, we’re heading into a sequence of eight consecutive Interludes, which, due to the number of them and the fact that they are apparently “not connected” to Arc 11 proper, I’ll be treating as basically an Arc 11½

for the purposes of Arc Thoughts. This means I’ll be doing Arc Thoughts for Arc 11 before I move on to the next chapter, and then another round of Arc Thoughts for the Interludes when I’m done with them (but still keeping in mind they were supposed to be part of this Arc rather than their own thing like Sentinel was).

Since my predictions for all of the Interludes are pretty much the same at this point, I think I’ll leave recapping my predictions about the next chapter for the Arc Thoughts post.

So yeah, see you next time!