Sep 2012 Archive, part b

Hmmm... I always thought litmus strips were measuring the amount of stomach acid that sues produced in the agents, the continuum, and anything else that was handy. Good to know.

Holmes being able to re-deduce everything was really a great idea. It helps making canon characters more people and less dummies thrown around by the whims of a writer.

If he keeps going this way, however, it will not take long before we have to add him to the "Canons who know about the PPC" list.

First and foremost, I love some of the description you've got floating around. 'despite Tabitha being about as interesting as a bar of soap' caught my eye for some reason (oh, wait, I know the reason: because it's funny). I also enjoy Cale's occasional cluelessness - and the 'discussion' over the portal was hilarious.

On the other hand, sometimes 'clueless' charges directly into 'exposition' without looking back. I could almost see some of the discussions they have (the naming of the Remote Activator, the thing with the DORKS, and the discussion of CADs all come very close together) as acceptable if you were writing this as an 'introduction to the PPC for new readers'-type mission - which the intern format would work very well for - but for someone who already knows what's going on, I don't think you handled it quite gracefully enough. At times the two experienced agents come across as little more than encyclopaedias.

That said (am I allowed to keep shifting back and forth on every subject imaginable? I rather think I am), I enjoyed the references to all the heaps of things that make up HQ. PPC Cluedo will have me commenting further down the thread (seriously, like I was ever going to be able to resist a board game), and it makes me grin to see Nurse McKay making a snide appearence.

So, overall: good mission, you two. The excerpts make it very clear why you killed this one, without turning it into an MST. Nicely done.

hS

Congratulations on another dead Sue - and also on the discovery of new things to add to the continuity! -hearty pat on the back-

-Oh, and one for IntelligentAirhead, too!-

Welcome to the Board! Have some of my hydrophobic water to commemorate the event. Drink at your own risk.

Greetings, fellow anime fan! I suggest you leave any sanity that you might posses in the appropriate reciprocal over there labeled "Useless" as you won't use it much here. Make sure you check out the handy links above, as they provide entertainment and enlightenment for those who click them; unless of course they've run out, in which case you must inform me so I can restock them.

I feel the need to point out some grammar mistakes, as we are a community focused on celebrating the good writing and mocking the bad. Just make sure you look your post over before you publish it so as to catch any glaring errors before they happen. It's okay if it happens once or twice, just make sure it's not a frequent thing.

And, to commemorate you're initiation into the wondrous world of the PPC, I give you an anti-thermometer, for measuring everything except temperature, seeing as your frigid self would break it otherwise.

Hello there!

Have this unreticulated spline - just don't expose it to temporal radiation (I did that once and was cleaning up the fur for weeks).

*returns head to its original location*

I think I have a blob of awake I can spare. Let me go fetch it... Ah, here it is. Sadly, I had no knowledge about its alarming rate of reproduction, so I have far too many. It is good for studying, night-blogging, insomnia, and school. It is useless for about everything else, but gosh darn it's cute.
No gift returns, even if it does try to steal your soul in the middle of the night.

saw all this. Thanks everyone!
(also that capsfail. Ignore that capsfail.)

Glad to meet you. Have a bag of pebbles and a Random Shiny Object.

Welcome to our insane Board! I present you with a fish.

Made of chocolate. Filled with orange marmalade. Enjoy!

Hello there! Here, have a graduated cylinder to measure things with. :D

Oh hello there newbie! So you're an anime fan too, have you ever seen D.Gray-Man? It's one of my favorites. Since you have such a frigid name, I shall present you with a super -insulated wool cap with ear flaps!
*Warning, wearing hat for long periods of time may cause it to overheat and spontaneously combust. This is potentially a bad thing and should be avoided.

Hello and welcome aboard! Have a box of random tools - handy for fixing random equipment malfunctions!

Hi, have some fudge!

Hi, and welcome to the Board! For a newbie present, have some Water - it's made of only the highest-quality, sparkliest Sue blood!

Have a six pack of CAFfeine. New! furry creature free batch. Contains Cute Animal Friends like snakes, phoenixes, fish and pet rocks!

Warning: Less caffeine intensive than the normal stuff and may cause random bouts of Parseltongue.

Have a plushie Charlotte! I promise it won't grow into a giant plushie worm that'll eat your head off.

Anyways, welcome to the Board!

I've got decaffinated caffeine, acetonitrile, and some battery acid in my pockets, so take them as your welcome gift and never mix them.

What are your fandoms?

Hi there, Absol F! (I'm guessing from your handle that you're somewhat knowledgeable of Pokemon?)
Anyway, first of all, if you haven't done so already, please read the Constitution (link on top of the page). You are also welcome to introduce yourself in the IRC channel (again, link on top of the page).
Moving on, I'd like to inquire as to your fandoms?
And last but not least, I hereby present you with a gift: a cup of delicious Irish Breakfast tea, straight from the Emerald Isle itself. Just don't let the leaves eat you, eheheh.

I've just joined this month, but my sanity has already been declared gone :) I hope your book becomes a success. I'll be looking out for it.

I joined around August last year, so I'm pretty new. So, you wrote the Constitution? I have to admit, it's very good. I was the one who wrote the new sections- please allow me to apologise for not keeping it in the same style as the rest.

Anyway, welcome back! Have a lava lamp and a violin that only plays rainbows.

I am technically on hiatus, due to taking a break and being busy and traveling and writing and stuff, but I'm suspending it temporarily to wave frantically and jump up and down and generally show my excitement and enthusiasm for you stopping by!

*pause for breathing*

Erm. Too much?

Heck, I don't even know if we talked at all. But I remember that either you or Andy (or both?) were a UU, so that automatically makes me feel a certain kinship, whether it's warranted by actual interaction or not. ^_^;

I am glad to hear that there will be some form of "Suedom" finished eventually, even if it's not the one I'm familiar with. I'm interested in anything PPCers get published For Real, actually. I'm afraid I don't have any of those newfangled social media doohickeys, though. {= (

So, yeah. Great to see you again, and best of luck with the publishing thing!

~Neshomeh, who will convey the greetings of both halves to her old PPC RP contacts on AIM.

Nice to meet you! I personally haven't been here that long (since around March I think) so it's nice to meet someone who was there from the beginning. My name's TheMadHatteress, but some people call me Hattie. Actually, nobody calls me Hattie, but you can if you would like. After taking a quick jaunt over to your tumblr I've become very interested in your Fifty Shades bashing story. I read Twilight because I thought that since everyone else was reading it it might be good, and one of the things that really irritated me was how mentally abusive Edward was to Bella. It's nice to see that someone understands what that behavior really signifies. Oh, and of course the Suedom story sounds marvelous. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Hello there! I don't believe we've met before, as I only joined up in May (I'm not sure if that qualifies me as a newbie, but I'm certainly not old enough to remember you) but I'd like to give you a hearty welcome all the same. I'm interested in seeing how you turn Suedom into an original story, so please alert us when if comes out.It's cool to see someone from a community like this move on to professional writing, as that's something a lot of us strive for. In the meantime, have my friendship ancientbie, and welcome back.

Have a multicolored, seventeen foot long, wool knit scarf and a bag of jelly babies (curly wig not included).

Please use them IRresponsibly. :)

So, nice to meet you. I'm Miah--joined in February of 2010.

I have often wondered what would the true oldbies (that haven't hung around all this time like a few here) would think about the current crop of PPCers. Hopefully we're not doing too badly with the legacy, even if we do have bumps along the road.

Your re-worked Suedom novel sounds like it will be a very fun read.

I literally just yesterday got around to finishing Suedom, and was wondering when/if it was going to be finished. Your timing is impeccable (and slightly uncanny).

And while you're here, I just wanted to...eh, screw it.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE OHMYGOSHILOVEYOURSTUFFSOMUCHIT'SAMAZINGANDAWESOMEANDCOOLAND-

*BANG!*

*Shoves body out of chair*

I swear to god, that's the third inner fangirl this week! This is ridiculous!

Anyway, yeah, love your stuff, can't wait to read more of it!

So you were one of the first PPCers, huh? When it was still on fanfiction.net? Cool!

Welcome back!

Hello there! I'm here for little less than a year. Never heard of Suedom, but it sounds interesting.

Suedom was my first introduction to this not-excactly-shared-but-somewhat-overlapping universe. I read that before OFUM and before the Original Series (and yes, that was confusing at times, but I loved it). I was always sad, that the story was never finished.
I'd love to read the story you turn it into and everything else you write. The best of luck with it!

New-oldbye (I just made two years here, so I am technically an oldbye... er, right?) Sergio Turbo reporting for duty! *salutes*

Ah, Suedom... I've been reading that on and off. I must say, it's quite good and I am rather enjoying it. I've got as far as their arrival in the Harry Potter OFU.

Nice to meet you.

Hello hello!

The summary of your novel looks amazing. I'm pretty sure it makes the world better by its very existence.

It is excellent to see you again!

Er, hi again. Um, I think this is where I apologise for being the main ripper-up-and-recycling of your Constitution...? Hopefully you're not too upset...

Anyway, it's awesome to see the Saphie Half! I still remember Suedom - I still remember writing badly-scanning fan-songs of Suedom, oh my - and while it's sad to think that the LotR-version won't be finished (although I know what you mean about looking back at your own old prose... got mah own solution to that one), it's amazing to hear that there will eventually be a completed version. And it's, er, let's come up with another word, great to hear you two are still together!

...

... working together, that is. Although you were the original OTP behind the PPC Shipfics (with bjam and BiD)...

Also your Fifty Shades/Drunken Bell concept/excerpt makes me smirk. Fun stuff.

And... oh, yeah. Speaking of old stories, I'm currently in the middle of a reboot of my Discworld OFU (which was quite bad)... you two may recall signing up...? Muahaha.

(And hi to Andy!)

hS

...Wait, you wrote the Original Constitution?

*Salutes*

Stand to, everyone! Venerable Old One on the bridge!

In all seriousness, it is a pleasure to meet you.

Funny you should come in at this time, I've just mentioned "Suedom" a few threads down...

I'm a middlebie who's been slowly working on his first mission for about a year now. It's an honor to meet one of the Original Oldbies. Thanks to you, I've discovered Suedom, and what I've read of it so far seems very interesting. I like it.

It's really an honor to meet you. I'm a newbie according to PPC standards, and it's always humbling to meet those who have been here since the start. Especially when they have churned out as many wonderful pieces of work as you.

Pleased to meet you, and congratulations. May your pen never run out of ink and your word processor never freeze.

Well, I joined last December-ish. I guess I'm a middlebie?

Oh well. Hi! I'm going to go have to look for your original book-thing. Do you have a new title or are you calling it Suedom still?

Hello! I forget if you were one of the many Boarders who welcomed me to the Board last month - probably not, since your handle doesn't seem too familiar - but I'm KittyNoodles. Massive Warcraft nerd (at least, I appear to know a fair amount more about the fandom than I initially realized) and fan of many other fandoms - like Lord of the Rings, Warriors, and Naruto.

And still a fan of Twilight - Carlisle is lovely, what can I say?

Also, you're so...shiny. Here from page one? Can I hug you?

I loved reading Suedom, and I'm so excited to hear that it will continue in some form! I'll tell NenyaQuende you said hi; she and I still chat every now and then.

As you can see, I've been keeping myself busy, although I'll probably start to wind down my PPCings as I start to work on my own original stories.

Also, I'd like to echo what you said about the PPC helping you to learn so many important things about writing and characterization. I've come along way from being an "original" fic Suethor to being a fully competent writer, largely thanks to everyone here.

Have some Pink Stuff, on the house!

~Araeph

Oh my god it's you! I remember meeting Andy like four years ago on here, and it's amazing to meet you as well because yes, I /adore/ Suedom. To the point where I borrowed the idea of a bridge between canon and badfics for an OFU of mine.

I highly look forward to reading your works! Gonna go stalk you on tumblr (I'm evil-sherlock-holmes) to see when you're releasing the Original Fiction!Suedom and other things. :D

HI! :D

It's awesome to meet you (possibly again, I think I vaguely recall you wandering in quite a while back but was too awed to speak to you :P).

New books? And written by old PPCers? This should be awesome. I shall keep an eye out.

*brofists back* It's great to see some of the oldest oldbies return. :3

- Cassie, who is not quite so shy any more

Prelude: *squee!*

Hi! I don't think we've met, but it's absolutely good to see you around again; Suedom was one of the written works that brought me to the 'Board in the first place. And people who enjoy faffing on bad writing are always good to have around!

1) ...and again, squee! I absolutely can't wait to see where you guys go with it!

2) ...also squee! I shall be following forthwith.

3) *brofist*

I do hope to see you around!

Oh pfft. And that's the writer of the ORIGINAL Constitution by the way. I see you've updated it. Some of the silly bits that are holdovers of the old one are from the one I wroted.

(I hope no one's becoming annoyed by all of these...)

What exactly is the difference between a 'Favorite' and a 'Lust-Object' (other than the LO creating large amounts of Want)? And may I create a page for 'Favorites' once I learn enough about what the difference is? The Wiki doesn't appear to have one...

It actually seems pretty decent so far, given that the author's note is about trying to give the game historical accuracy. My (admittedly not extensive) knowledge of Spanish grammar and syntax is actually fairly happy while I read this.

Also, I've seen a lot of spanish fics, and usually (If I can read them) they seem like they've been put together with more caution than the English ones. I don't know if it's just the law of averages (smaller sample size = less badfic) or if people who live in primarily spanish-speaking areas simply just bother to read their work before submitting. And, keep in mind, that the concept of a "Mary Sue" doesn't necessarily translate across cultures - sure, there will be flat, badly written OC's, but I wouldn't relish trying to explain the concept in a foreign language.

Best way to find Spanish and French fic is to go to the just in page for your particular fandom. I don't know if there's a Spanish language version of the site that has it's own address and more Spanish fic, but now I'm intrigued. I always thought it was just that there were less people who chose to write fanfic in Spanish or French if they could possibly write it in English. (Between there and Fictionpress, the most common complaint I hear when someone who doesn't speak or write english fluently is notified of a mistake is that "English isn't my first language, and no one would ever have read it if I wrote it in my first language.")

I have another tiny little question. -ducks behind couch-

-peeks, then comes back out-

Anyway, since I'll be asking for permission sometime this month, I was wondering about RC numbers. Do I get to request an RC for my agents (I notice the Wiki has a list of claimed RCs), and how do I go about requesting and/or receiving a number? Also, is the RC layout up to me, or is that determined by who/whatever gives me the RC number?

And is peanut butter really brown, or is it more of a dusty orange?

You have four threads now, more than anyone else--and you've already been warned about this. Consider this your second warning. You won't get a third, so please pay attention.

I know you're excited to be here, and we're glad to have you. But the Board is already so active right now that it's easy to bump someone else's post, especially a mission report that a Boarder has worked really hard to bring to the table, off the main page. Added to the fact that your post once again contains "No Subject", this seems to point to you being, shall we say, a bit trigger-happy with the posting. That is, you seem to have a tendency to post in the heat of the moment, as soon as you've found something shiny and new.

We PPCers understand this impulse, believe me--but if we posted every time we came across something we thought was unusual ("Huh, look, a kind of Suefic we've never seen before!") the Board would get very cluttered very fast. Self-editing is one of the most important skills we possess, and I urge you to employ it.

~Araeph

Confound it, I forgot to title the topic again.

Don't be shy, we don't bite! Or at least, most of us don't. We usually only go rabid over badfic, so you should be safe. Normally I give people hats as welcome gifts, but your username has inspired me, and therefore I shall present you with a cat-owl hybrid. It looks somewhat like a gryffin, but is smaller and has the head of an owl instead of an eagle.

Welcome a-Board, newbie. Please leave your sanity in the bin by the door, as you won't be needing it here. Along with LotR, which you mentioned, Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia are both relatively popular here, so you won't be alone. Feel free to visit the IRC if you're ever in a chatty mood (the link is above) and drop by the wiki, as it contains the secret to life the universe and everything, as well as other, more plausible things.

And now it is time to present, as is tradition, your newbie gift.

*Drumroll*

Ta-da! A Pygmy Puff, for all your cute/fluffy/fuzzy/cuddly needs. Enjoy!

Never, ever pick up anything that is supposed to be an adjective but is a noun instead. It turns out they multiply quickly. In any case, here, have a noun that was once an adjective. Don't feed it anything but pure espresso and you'll be fine.

Newbies. It's getting to feel like I shouldn't be a newbie anymore judging by the number of newbies I've greeted. :)

So, since pulling random things out of my pockets is my shtick around here, have a calibrated buret (to match Lily's graduated cylinder) one half-full dropper of food coloring, and a bag of popcorn.

... you won't want the CAFfeine that contains furry animals, so have some cans of the reptile stuff.

Warning: May cause dry skin and an inability to blink.

Glad to have you. I'm a sort of oldbie-newbie (Was here for about a month last year, but then COLLEGE!), so we're a bit in the same boat. Glad to have you aboard!

Hi, have some fudge!

What are your favorite fandoms?

Lovely to meet you, sir/ma'am/undefined/other!

I strongly recommend you read the Constitution, if you haven't already - a link is at the top of the Board. Wander through our wild and wonderful Wiki, too, if you are so inclined - you can find a lot of missions and such to read.

If you're after writing your own missions, do check out our Permission-giving procedure, and then hang around so we get to know you. :)

As you're new here, have a bag of pebbles and a Random Shiny Object.

Hello there, new guy and or gal. Welcome to the Board.

Hello and welcome aboard! Have a goblet of enchanted liquid - it becomes any drink you desire on command!

Hello, hello! Have a graduated cylinder!

Welcome to the Board! Have some of my hydrophobic water to commemorate the event. Bottled at the Springs of Madness, guaranteed freshness.

...So what are your fandoms, good sir/ma'am/mysterious yet friendly entity?

Welcome. I'm new myself, but i think that doesn't matter in welcoming people, eh?

Ooh, a shiny newbie with a cat-related name! I MUST HUG! (With permission, of course - my shoulder cat says hugging random strangers isn't always healthy.)

As a gift, I present thee with...a glass kitty figurine! Sooo shiny~

Also, have you read the Wiki or Constitution yet? Those are fun to read (even if they don't sound like it - I thought they'd be boring until I read them, m'self.)

It seems like a lot of oldbies are making a comeback lately, good to have you back! You won't remember me, since I joined just last March, so let me introduce myself. I'm Hattie, otherwise known as the Hetalian that comes the closest to being sane.
Anyway, have some welcome back cookies!

Don't think I've seen you around, but then again I'm also a resurfaced oldbie (four years ago, man, four years ago).
Welcome back!

While this is here, I'll just run off a list of fandoms I'm familiar with. (Yes, there are rather a lot of them, for I read/watch/play far, far too much).

LoTR, Nasuverse (Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime, mostly), the Dresden Files, Codex of Alera, the Honorverse, Everything Written by Tamora Pirece, Warhammer 40,000, Inheritance, Halo, Mass Effect, Star Wars, Star Trek, and others I can't remember right now.

If anyone's interested in any of these, and needs a partner for a mission, let me know.

(Regulars, question for you: Does Permission expire over long absences, or am I good to go?)

a Battle Brother, hmm?

An old newbie! Well met, my fellow oxymoron. You probably still qualify as a senior boarder in comparison to me if we're going by length of PPC career. Happy to meet you!

Things have been busy around here, but it's always good to see old new faces!

...Says the the month-old newblette. -big grin-

Because I have crossovers for all 3, and I know nothing about them.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6966278/1/TSAB-DOWNFALL-Halo-War
Nanoha/Halo crossover, bereft of logic. So, apparently after the Jail Scaglietti incident, the TSAB decides, in order to protect the galaxy from a threat that isn't there, to lift the ban on mass-based weaponry (one of the biggest taboos, and completely unnecessary since magical weapons are safer, more controllable, and better in general), release the guy who held the ENTIRE CAPITAL PLANET hostage, and let him continue his combat cyborg work. Only Nanoha and the Saint King church, apparently, oppose this. Not Fate, who HOME RUN'd Jail into a wall, not Subaru, who IS a combat cyborg whose sister was BRAINWASHED into serving Jail, and who idolizes Nanoha, and not Hayate, who is pretty much the adopted sister of the Church's head. And after this, Nanoha is apparently killed after being hit with a ton of Arc-en-Ciels, yet something called a 'Forerunner' revives her, gives her a speshul makeover (she gets heterochromia [is she now a descendant of the Shutran Hegemon now?], white hair, a seventeen-year-old body, and loses the 'hair on her more private areas of her body'.) Help.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7294471/1/FORERUNNER-Advent-Magica
Halo x Madoka Magica crossover by the same guy as above. Some kind of ship gets to Mitakihara, enters a Barrier (impossible unless the Witch tries to eat you or you're a Puella) and... I don't know if the ship-teleporting is possible. Someone who knows Halo, please look at this.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7529122/1/Sonics-Last-Wish
Obviously, a Sonic x Madoka crossover. Admittedly, I don't know Sonic, but I do know that the main character is MALE. And yet, he is a Puella Magi. Toss in some replacement!Kyubey and this is a pretty annoying but not godawful oneshot.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8432279/1/Certain-as-the-Sun
Kingdom Hearts, Madoka Magica, and Beauty and the Beast. In this, KYOUKO, the street-child, orphan, who cares almost nothing for her fellow humans, who is violent and food-obsessed, is Belle. ICE CREAM is her equivalent of Belle's books, and the metaphor DOES NOT WORK. For one, Kyouko starved as a child, and Belle never had to scrounge for books and read books out of the trash and steal them from convenience stores to survive. Second, whoever 'Seifer' is (he takes the place of Gaston), he should be pinned to a wall with a spear, surrounded by rubble, for taking Kyoko's food.

Except this one really hits me hard because this one Hetalia trollfic oh Frah.
And I thought my Wales OC was bad... I just... *flails around for a moment*

Just
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/4055260/littlestpetshop2000
*gross sobbing*

We have Hetalia, Homestuck and some Homestuck/Legend of Zelda crossovers.
I looked at the two Hetalia ones and oh Frah someone please hand me some Bleeprin that Wales has ruined my ability to English and grammar and punctuation.

And whoops I haven't been on in a while, I need to get back into the habit of coming here

Link it, so that we may satisfy our curiosity. Depending on the AUGH-Factor, I'd hold off on "officially" reporting it for now - unless, that is, it truly is that bad.

That sounds rather...frightening.

Out of morbid curiosity alone, I would say post the link to it so we have an idea of what you've discovered (not that your summary hasn't already thoroughly put me on edge).

Also, is there a 'Fics Under Surveillance' page on the wiki?

Battlestar Galactica/Firefly

Yup, that's right. At the begining of the BSG miniseries, when Laura Roslin is being given the bad news, there are a few ships that fly past in the background, and one of them is clearly a Firefly class transport ship.

So Mal and the crew may well have been on Caprica just before everything kicked off.

(I agree that that sounds like a sneaky crossover... and, remember, An Unearthly Child started off way back in '63 with the TARDIS in a junkyard... but I'm going to take your thread and run away a bit with it)

I've always thought that there should be more of these types of crossovers in shows that merit it. The one I would desperately love to see is a Marple story where the little old lady goes about her business, and there's a murder, and the police show up... led by Chief Inspector Japp. And then there's a knock at the door and this funny little Belgian man shows up... (But of course that would require way too many things to happen, including the writing of a non-Christie story for those two series', so ah well)

I'm also convinced, slipping into British young-children's television, that Rosie from Rosie and Jim (very old show now, about the titular two ragdolls on a canal boat) has moved on and is now the star of Everything's Rosie (still with ragdoll hair attached by a button)... but they're on totally different channels and surely no TV producer could get away with that...?

And, less canonically, it's always amusing when actors show up in other shows of the same type. I remember one episode of (the murder mystery) Morse where the culprit turned out to be the star of (the murder mystery) Inspector Linley... looking, of course, exactly the same, since his own show post-dates the Morse episode.

Point? No point here, just ramble.

hS

...he would make Wholock canon (that'd be Doctor Who and Sherlock, btw).

So I wouldn't be surprised if this is a ninja Who crossover. :'D There's already so many jokes about Wholock already happening by having Lestrade's actor cameo in a DW episode (even the Doctor Who tumblr is joking about Lestrade finally finding his division).

Could be canon crossover. In fairness, Doctor Who technically takes place across ALL of space and time and ALL realities, so the potential's certainly there.

... we have a picture of the lather-bound copy of the Tales of Jay and Acacia we keep handing out to new Boarders and Agents alike.

I had a look a 'Rambling Band' and it looks great! Um ... Awful! ... Um, you know what I mean.

Anyway, well done!

I'm about up for a reread, myself - it's great that there's a stable home for them now!

(And may I say, I love the site layout. The designs and the books and it's all so pretty)

This is just what we needed. Excuse me while I go off and read me TOS again.

And again.

And again...

Hopefully this will lessen any confusion while reading the missions. I remember the first time I read them I read everything but "The Dark Elf" in order and then read that one last.

I particularly like the images you used on the front page, the leatherbound books are a nice touch. And I have been looking for something to read ever since I finished that book this morning...

*Wanders off to re-read the Original Series*

Oh well DONE! Thank you thank you thank you! I'm off to go read it (again) right away!

A wonderful job well done!

Only with your permission, of course, but still...may I hug you?

... to give my "Very well done!" - and a hearty "Thank you" from the bottom of my heart. We need this - and you've given it to us.

Thank you. And well done.

hS

(PS: It might be prudent to remove Jay & Acacia's email addresses from their preamble, to save them getting emails. -hS)

Since, you know, all we've been hearing from BBC Sherlock on this board are badfics, I might as well rec a goodfic that was finished today.

Glimpse of Gold by TheOtherMaddHatter. Rated T.
All right, if you're not into AU it might not be your cup of tea, but this is Sherlock in a Pirates of the Caribbean-esque setting. Sherlock as a pirate, essentially. And he forms a bond with a merman he calls John.
The plot is fantastic; there are some really intense scenes, and I mean intense as in battling and pirating and stuff. If you're not into graphic violence and cannibalism (these mermaids are bloody vicious, I tell you), this fic may also not be your cup of tea.
But for the rest of us, I highly recommend this fic for the emotional manipulation and vivid detail, as well as the excellent characterisation.

Oh, very interesting - and original, as far as I've seen!

I have to admit, at first I was wondering what a space-exploration story was doing on FIMFiction, but once I realized the narrator was documenting his exploration of the world of My Little Pony, I understood - and oh my goodness, this story is awesome! Thankies for the link!

And according to the clock, it only took me about 25 minutes to make that decision from the time I got the email. What am I supposed to do with the other 11 hours and 35 minutes? Sleep? Actually, that sounds like a good idea.

Congratulations.

Now, if I might offer one piece of advice, find a good beta reader with whom you work well. The second sample was much better than the first, as far as tone and SPaG are concerned, and I sense that a beta might be the reason for that. A good beta can help put a polish on a mission, and take it from "merely good" to "great".

Well? What are you still reading this for? Off you go! Go write something, or whatever it is you kids do these days.

-Phobos, off to sleep

I've read over the sample and characters, and I think that hS is correct that there is something a bit off in the sample. It seems to me the sample is a bit too formal, but that isn't quite right. It is hard to put a finger on. That said, I don't want to make a decision just yet.

I've read the discussion on this thread and I consulted with a third PG and here is what I propose: email me the link or file to something else that you've already written. It doesn't have to be PPC related, or even funny (though a funny piece wouldn't hurt). I will give it a read over and, based on that, make a decision on permission. This is your chance to show me what you've got.

My email is baridthetroll(at)gmail(dot)com. I can promise that I will get back to you with a decision in less than 12 hours.

-Phobos, semi-unhiatused

I like it. Your characters seem solid enough, and will only become more developed as they go along.

The only thing that I recommend though, is that when you switch PoVs, write like your characters think. They both read like they think the same way, which doesn't make a lot of sense, considering that they're two different characters.

So, in short, good job, and keep improving.

You're characters sounded interesting. And I liked your overall writing style. Different stokes for different folk? Like how some stories are written as if they are quite serious, while other Lemony narrators. Nothing wrong with that.

From what I've noticed, some of your descriptions seem to be a little 'Department of Redundancy Department'. For example: "He possesses black hair with a fringe that hangs over his forehead, a physical trait inherited from his father." Mentioning that hair color/style is a *physical* trait seems a little redundant to me, and there are several other examples of such things.
Also, most of your writing seems to be missing the odd comma from place to place.
That is all. Hope you don't take this offensively, I'm just trying to give concrit.

On the Agents: I have no particular problems with Joseph, although I find myself wondering how consistant his personality is. You peg him as distracted, quiet, literalist, and easily entertained - which don't necessarily contradict each other, but have the capacity to do so. Your sample takes that 'literal' in a humorous direction - which is essential, naturally - and also introduces what seems to be an accent ('Closet is very uncomfortable' is syntactically wrong in English, but sounds a lot like what Eastern European English speakers often use). Is that right? And if so, is it modelled on a real person, or just a stereotype?

Andrew gives me rather more worries. Two specific things caught my eye. First, this habit of spouting tropes - while very realistic - has a possibility of becoming incredibly boring to read. A mission where Andrew spouts cliches and Joseph nods silently to them would not be fun - and it's the sort of easy-writing trap one might fall into. On the flip side, you didn't in your sample, so that's promising.

The other query I have is over his transfer. You say he 'managed to get lost many, many times'. In PPC HQ, this strongly implies that he was incredibly focussed on his job - ie, that he thought too hard about where he was going ('It's a bit of a maze, unless you hadn't noticed'). On the flip side, you say 'getting bored', and your sample takes this and runs with it - he tries to force a mission to manifest because he's bored, but gets bored of trying, and is also too lazy/easily bored to do the newspaper puzzles. That sounds more like someone who a) wouldn't do well in Janitorial (which fits the profile well), but also b) would actually get where he's going distressingly easily in HQ. Is there something I'm missing, or is that something you didn't consider?

On the sample: On the technical side, you have a few hiccoughs in punctuation - 'Well at least' would use a comma, for instance, as would 'Well have fun' - and paragraphing - which, I can't peg anything as actually wrong, but you have an awful lot of paragraphs for the narrative sections. My standard paragraphs are probably twice as long as yours. You also have one factual error (you peg Joseph as nineteen in the third-to-last paragraph, but 20 in his bio), but that's pretty clearly just a mistake, which occasionally happen. :P

My main concern is that the narration just feels that little bit off. For instance, your very first paragraph. 'Watching the screen glow a sickly blue' would probably sound more natural as 'watching the sickly blue glow of the screen', and your second sentence just sort of... keeps going. Again, it's not wrong, it just sounds strange to me. (Actually, it makes me wonder if English is your first language, because it sort of feels like a slightly different language structure is injecting itself in there).

I just don't know. I like what happened in your sample - the idea of trying to trick the Laws of Narrative Comedy into giving you a mission is a good one, and Joseph's literalist 'I am in my sleeping bag; it is warm; I will stay in my sleeping bag and do things this way' is funny. You portray their characters well - particularly Andrew's boredom, but Joseph's quietness comes across well too - but the actual writing just comes in at slightly the wrong angle for my brain. I don't know.

So I'm going to defer judgement. Sorry; hopefully someone else with a fancy hat like mine will show up and tell me I'm talking rubbish, but since I can't pin down what's bothering me, I don't want to make a decision - particularly if it turns out to be something you can fix once alerted.

hS

Not more Gangnam Style, but fantastic Tolkien song nonetheless.

Behold! The Song of Durin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pISzxdEgDCU

There is so much win here that it probably would have to be measured in...uhm...something really frakking big. This is awesome, and you should feel awesome for linking it.

That was beautiful. It was almost as awesome as the lightsaber training video.

...That I'm going to keep it permanently bookmarked, a fate generally reserved for the greatest of goodfic. 'Nuff said.

... Pony Style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1H40wUz-Fd8

You all make valid points, of course. As I said, all still huge Sues and Stus, just not as much so as we all think. I like to think that Paolini was at least trying most of the time. He did at least try to make good characters- early on, anyway. I kind of get the sense that he stopped trying about halfway through Brisingr. He did use a lot of deus ex machina stuff. But the series sort of started out pretty alright and then went downhill, you know?

Inheritance (the final book) was where stuff really got bad though. That was where we got Roran taking down a city with no particular plan, Galbatorix basically creating (and Eragon surviving) a small nuclear blast, the Vault of Souls, and Arya becoming a Rider, not to mention Angela's absolutely ridiculous fighting ability.

Forgive me, but the Redwall series took a similar downturn towards Mr. Jacques' unfortunate death. I love almost every single one of the series that I've read up to now, but Rogue Crew killed me inside. I think anything written after it would be unbearable. Seriously, Skor wore tanned hides and still got called a good guy. Think what would happen if a vermin wore otter hides. Sure, the same sort of double standard exists in the real world, but that may be taking it a bit far. It's not the worst book I've read, not by any means, but I still stand that it wasn't exactly good, although I did enjoy it. Probably more because of Razzid and the Wiltuds than anything. I hated Skor though- almost as much as I hate Fernflower. I didn't like Rake Nightfur a whole lot either. Dual-wielding claymores? Hah, no. That's about as plausible as Eragon's learning to read in a week.

Keep in mind I'm still a loyal fan of the series and don't murder me or anything. The only series I haven't found fault of some kind with yet is LotR, though I'm sure it's there.

What gets me about the whole series is that it's so inconsistent. Eragon is a complete idiot most of the time, except for random instances of pure genius when it would be convenient for him, such as learning to read in a week. His healing ability seems to come and go as well; he cured cancer in a few minutes, but it takes him more than an hour to heal a cleft palate. Elven magic is explained in great detail, there's even a spell glossary in the back of the book, but dragon magic is hardly explained at all, and often acts like a deus ex machina. The Elves, we have all agreed, are a giant race of Sues that completely rip off Tolkien's Elves, so shouldn't the fact that Eragon is slowly turning into one be a somewhat Stuish trait? And sure, he doesn't get the girl he wants, but I seem to recall several others being interested in him. His one major physical flaw is totally erased during the aforementioned Blood-Oath celebration.
I have a whole 'nother rant for his sword, which you claim to not be a Sword of Stuness. Your first argument, that the sword was not unique, is only half true. Yes, other Dragon Riders had swords of a similar nature, but each one was a different color and was specially made for that rider. The fact that Eragon named his "fire" in a magical language in which words have power and didn't expect it to burst into flames is an astounding lack of logic on his part. What also gets me is the blacksmith, who belongs to a supposedly peaceful race, yet is incredibly skilled at making swords. Inheritance-verse Elves don't even use swords, so how was she able to practice? That's not the sort of thing you learn from guesswork and approximation.
When it comes to this series, I can't help but root for the bad guy. Galbatorix is just a cardboard cutout of a villain, and even then he hasn't really done anything wrong. I mean sure, he killed a few people, but Eragon has killed dozens more. And he really hasn't done anything bad as a ruler, if anything he made the country better. He kind of reminds me of Ventinari in that everyone hates him, but they have to admit that he does his job well.
- This has been a rant on the Inheritance Cycle by TheMadHatteress.

...that the entire elvish race is one giant homogeneous lump of Sue. They are simply the best at everything, and seem to have all the answers.

I still see them all as Sues. I'd just like to offer some counterpoints to your arguments:

Firstly, Eragon's name is on letter away from being "dragon". Honestly.

Eragon's personality

Foolishness seems here to replace the "adorable clumsiness syndrome" found in certain female Sues.

He can be a genius sometimes- he learned to read in less than a week- but these stints of increased intelligence are rare and short.

Plot-induced intelligence, perhaps?

Eragon's story

Just one thing: He gets redemption points when the romance spends most of its time not going his way[...].

Even if he doesn't succeed at everything doesn't subtract Sue-points away from him. The author still *has* to show us some sort of suspense/drama/struggle, ne?

Eragon's weapons

I agreed until this bit: The biggest difference between Eragon's blade and the literally hundreds of others? His lights on fire.

Is that not the very definition of Speshul?

And then he messed up again by dropping his blade in surprise.

If I was fighting with a weapon and it suddenly decides to light itself on fire, I'd drop it too. Dropping your weapon in surprise doesn't really make you less of a Sue, mate...

Eragon's abilities

He can place multiple wards on half a dozen VIPs and still not die from sudden energy drain in battle. Sure, he might have constructed the spell so that it runs on the people themselves but surely *they* do not have the stamina of an Ubercharged half-elf half-human? The energy loss would be like piling ten centimetres of plate armour on your back and running a marathon in the middle of the Sahara.

With no water.

As for the other characters...

Arya: Completely agree.

Roran: This is the guy who killed about 200 soldiers by himself, wrestled a Urgal to the ground, breached a city with a completely improvised plan, and armed with so much plot armour a Dalek would have trouble scratching it.

Stu.

Nasuada: Feels off for me. Her resisting Galbatorix's attempts to undermine her sanity is sketchy, considering the king managed to break every single person he wanted to manipulate.

Elva: Sue. A toddler suddenly as mature as an adult? Doesn't fly with me, even if magic is involved. I think a child with her powers would go mad rather than to grow up like she did.

Also needs to be disciplined.

Angela: Speshul weapons? Check. Mysterious (read: completely unexplained) backstory? Check. Powerful influences? Check. Powerful magic user? Check. The fact that she becomes a walking plot device by the fourth book doesn't help either.

Solembum: I don't even know, to be honest. He seems pretty okay, if not a bit plot-devicey.

Brom: Seems decent. In my opinion, one of the more plausible characters in the story, even if he was practically a clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Orik: Agree on the fact that he's not a Stu, but I'm not sure if I follow your reasoning. Being rude, alcoholic, slightly crazy, and "unrefined" does not automatically subtract Sueishness points. Beware the Anti-Sue.

Nar Grahzvog: I like this guy. Agree with you on the fact that he isn't a Sue, but once again not because he is "ugly" and part of the monster-turned-ally-race.


...aaaand that's all I have. Thoughts?

...causing a major space-time distortion while the universe tries to figure out how that's physically possible* Thanks for the gifts and wishes (I feel like a broken record)! Party's now officially over, but thanks for stopping by!

Huzzah! Hydrophobic water for everyone!

Happy, happy birthday! Here, I found this just for you! /dispenses pumpkin cookies/

-rifles through pockets-
-tosses out Not!Cake- No, sorry, can't give that; that's a lie.
-tosses out Pi Pie- Nope...
-straightens up with a basket of pastries from Bakery Street- Here you go, some Sherloaf Holmes, some Johnnycake Wheatsons, some Mycrust Holmes, some Lestrudel... yeah, you get the point. Happy birthday!

-sings a bad rendition of the birthday song from 'The Emperor's New Groove'-

STREAMERS! -throws streamers-

The day may be almost over, but the night is young! *hands out noisemakers to random passersby* Let's have some fun! :3

Happy Birthday! Hope you have an excellent year!

*Hands Ponystar17 a large sponge with 'jam' filling.*
Nope, not derived from Water at all.

*Produces a large, sticky, chocolate-fudge cake.*

Thank you for the gifts and birthday wishes, everyone! They will be treasured and/or eaten and/or fed to my imaginary goldfish.

*blows noisemaker*

Have a sack of pebbles and a basket of Bleeprin-berries.

*Takes the opportunity to throw cake in your face but misses. Decides to eat it instead, because wasting the rest of a cake is a heinous crime.*

Mmmm, not-vanilla flavored. Anyone up for a game of Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Balrog?

Happy birthday! Here, have a triple chocolate cupcake (that's chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles).

All the best wishes for a great new year!

Happy Rosh Hashanah then! I'm not religious whatsoever, but I'll be glad to partake in the festivities.

*Proceeds in getting everything covered in honey while trying to eat the apples.*

Happy Rosh Hashanah then! I consider myself an agnostic, but you should take every opportunity to celebrate. Plus, apples in honey are delicious.

I'll bring my dad's rugelach to the table, because they're wonderful (little rolled-up cookies with cinnamon, chocolate, and/or nuts and dried fruit).

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year, regardless of religion or calendar thereof.

For any other Jewish Boarders, my rabbi suggests reading and napping as good ways to survive Yom Kippur.

I'm Catholic myself, but I believe every religion has the right to celebrate and be merry! So...Yay!

...How does one celebrate Rosh Hashanah, by the way?

I'm not Jewish, but I'll celebrate it just the same! *munches apple*

Not Jewish myself (I am a somewhat-Catholic Christian, althoug exactly what I believe in is kinda vague.), but I still want to wish happiness (or whatever is wished for on this festivity) to all of you!

It's never a bad day to wish happiness to anyone!

*is not Jewish*

*noms honeyed apples and joins in celebrations anyway*

Yum. :D

Happy Rosh Hashana to all you people who celebrate it. Also, everybody else, it's a chance to have some fun, so carpe that old diem!
-Opens a bottle of wine, starts serving apples in honey-

As I am too busy dealing with the awesome awesomeness that is awesome, I'll keep this short.

1) Read the links above. They will grant you infinite knowledge and wisdom for a very finite amount of time.

2) Don't be sane. Don't be too insane either, but definitely don't be sane.

3) Have fun.

4) Watch your grammar. Even If you think you're golden, there are always mistakes to be made.

5) Don't blink.

6) Take this rainbow generator and make the world a better place.

Welcome to our little family! We're the good kind of crazy, I promise!

Hullo, Arenal! Read The Original Series by Jay and Acacia if you haven't already, it is the canon of which the PPC is fic and hilarious to boot. Find badfic and report it. Hang around for at least a month so we know your name. Then get Permission to write stories set in the PPC and fire away!

-pats hair down- Don't mind me, I've been tackling a horrific Bionicle badfic alongside Riese and Kitty. Here, have a pass to Onua's Lovecave of Uncanonical Boners. Blame KittyNoodles.

Welcome aboard the PPC! Seein' as you arrrgh sea-worthy enough to sail the seven seas of fanfiction, accept this swash-bucklin' belt buckle. It doesn't do anything in particular, but it'll make you a first-rate sailor, mate!

^Pirate Speak. I don't usually talk like this. :)

Welcome aboard! As a welcome gift, have this suit of Extra Shiny Armour. (I'm still working on the scratch-proofing, though, so take care not to scratch it!)

Welcome to the PPC! Have some of my hydrophobic water to commemorate the event. Whatever you do, don't shake it like th-

[WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPECTING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE STAND BY AS WE REBOOT THE INFINITY DOLPHINS]

Hi, have some fudge!

Why don't you take this perfectly harmless blob that will do absolutely nothing to hurt you. It's a lovely pet called an awake. Just feed it a lot of espresso and it makes a wonderful companion. Don't stop giving it coffee. Ever.
ByehaveanicedayI'llbegoingnowkaythanks!

Well hello there newbie! I see you have a fondness of the word "awesomeness". I'm still not sure if it's a real word, but it brings to mind all the Hetalia goodfic I read. Ahh goodfic... *drifts of to happy place*. You should tell me what fandoms you're interested in, maybe I could recommend some goodfic to you.
Since you managed to make it here, your prize is a wizard's hat*! It's conveniently labeled "Wizzard", and is so unfashionable that it goes with every outfit.
*Warning: Wizard's hat does not allow you to perform magic. Do not attempt to perform a levitating spell while jumping off a cliff. Dry clean only.

Hey there, have a fountain pen, a half-eaten bag of M&M's (Sharing size!) and three random legos.

-tosses graduated cylinder- You can measure things in that!

Greetings, young Paladin. It's been a while since I saw one of your kind- Oh, wait, sorry. Wrong introduction speech. *clears throat* Welcome to the PPC! Glad you could join us, I look forward to seeing more of you. Here, have a dwarf sparrow - cute, but be careful not to misplace it!
Oh, and if anyone wondered, the OTHER speech is from Diablo II.

Have a telescope. Since there's no outdoors to HQ, it's mostly useless... I made myself sad.

Have you read the Original Series yet?

You joined. :P

Anyone who posts on the Board expressing interest in what we do is pretty much automatically considered a part of our community, and is therefore welcome to hang around contributing to the awesomeness. Make sure to read the Constitution, a link to which can be found at the top of the Board.

If you're looking to write missions and such, do check out the Wiki page on Permission. It'll tell you what you need to know. So take a look around, settle in - we're glad to have you. :D

*presents you with a bag of pebbles and a Random Shiny Object*

Oh, yes, what are your favourite fandoms? Anything in particular you love about them?

And, most importantly, would you like a cookie? *offers plateful*

- Cassie, who is happily welcoming newbies

Hello! I'm KittyNoodles, and I'm not much less of a newbie than you! Here, have some Bleepolate as a gift - all the brain-bleaching effects of Bleeprin, minus the hangover that comes with it!

Tell us about your fandoms and the like.
As a Newbie gift have a can of CAFfeine. Guarenteed to contain only the most nauseating of Cute Animal Friends.
Warning: Side effects may include pointed teeth and attacks of squeeing.

It's very pretty~!

Anyway, I shall be sending it shortly. Sorry for the week-long wait! -sheepish giggle-

It's not formatted like a postcard, but since it's from Mendocino County, that's to be expected.

I SHALL MAIL IT SOON.

I sent mine Wednesday. Already mentioned it on chat, but wanted to make it official.

Sorry for not sending a postcard, it's annoyingly hard to find them in local stores. I blame the fact that people prefer e-mails.

I'll still keep lookin' though. Is it possible to make postcards and send them? If sow, how would I go about making one?

I have to make a small excursion to get the card.

I'm still looking for a postcard, hopefully I should have it done by the end of the day.

I mentioned it's a three-hour drive for a postcard - still trying to get enough of a day off to get one. -gonk-

My email's lilywinterwood@gmail.com if you need it.

I remember this! I haven't played it on-site, but it is on one of my favorite game sites. It's quite good for an online CCG, so I would like to second this recommendation.

You are more than welcome to create a list, and feel free to take a look at Barid and Brightbeard's missions to see what charges they've come up with. Honestly, though, I don't think there are many charges that would be unique to the Warcraft Universe. Mostly, I think the charges boil down to the same kind of thing we see in a given mission type, just with different names.

Just my two coppers, of course.

-Phobos

Um, do you mean a list of the most common charges from that continuum?

Your main problems with the story are, what, that it's narrated by a teenaged girl with abnormal lung capacity, and it's a paranormal romance?

So far, just from what you've said, it doesn't sound terrible. Honestly, it might actually be enjoyable on some level, even if it's just because it's cheesy.

Like... The reason why people tend to get upset with bad fan-fiction is because it messes up established facts, plus bad writing. People get upset with 50 Shades and Twilight because of harmful messages plus bad writing. Bad writing alone isn't really something to get upset over, because it doesn't really hurt anyone. You can just, y'know. Not read.

Holds her breath, you say? What, does she stop breathing each time she asks a question or something?

In which a missing trio of PPC Agents are discovered taking refuge from EPC Agents in the Mirror Multiverse, which they'd strayed into by accident as a result of a research mission for the DMSE&R.

Sorry if this is a bit late, but if you still need another Beta I'd be more than happy to go over it for you!

E-Mail is SeraphWeasel@gmail.com.

I don't know the Bionicle Canon at all, if that's important, but I'll do my best!

Email is flightofcrimson@gmail.com

"Bionicle rape/slashfic"

Erhmahgerd I dont even want to know how.

Everyone who volunteered, thank you! If you didn't post to this thread and you weren't on the chat last Wednesday, can you please reply to this post so that I know you're still around?

I have compiled the info I have into a spreadsheet so everyone can see it (I thought it would be best if we had one place to consolidate the info).

Here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoEAD2waIFimdGVCVmZtMm41U19qMEhEZEw0NkMxWHc

Please note that you CAN edit this document, so if you want to volunteer yourself for any of the fics still available, please feel free to do so. Also, please fill in the fields for your agents, your permission status, etc. We'll get this done if it kills us!

...okay, poor choice of words.

Cyba Zero, you get first pick, because you emailed me a while ago that you weren't able to make it for the chat. Doctorlit, you also emailed me and have been assigned three fics that I think you'll loathe love. If there's anything you think the spreadsheet could use, suggestions are welcome.

Also, any last-minute volunteers? Please sign up!

~Araeph

Because I, too, have issues with communication; namely my school schedule of extreme and utmost doom.

With extreme prejudice so far. I did like the LOTR movies (though, how you get a trilogy out of The Hobbit other than by showing all of the walking or going into random flashbacks from the first war or the Silmarillarion is beyond me,) and sort of understand some of the casting decisions, just based on the marketing and not wanting more minor characters running around than there strictly needed to be. I actually thought it was kind of interesting that they actually tried to show Arwen when they were in Rivendell, but that quickly became an extraneous romance shoehorned into the movie with a cattle prod. Can't Arwen and Aragorn be secure enough in their relationship and their knowledge of that what needs to be done in Middle Earth will occasionally separate them for a while? It's not like they were attached at the hip while Aragorn was walking about in the north.

All I can think about the new character Tauriel is that hey, you want to cast some women as archers in Mirkwood? Be my guest. A bow makes a lot of sense for a female warrior: for one, a short bow is not made for a large physique. The fact that she's packaged with Legolas probably says more about the actress who plays her having eye-candy status than about her actual role in the movie. I just can't think of anything - other than a throwaway line or being one of many warriors to round up the dwarves - for her to do in the movie. Whatever she does won't pertain to Bilbo, or to the Ring at all. And while I can accept that PJ really wants to stage Gandalf throwing down the Necromancer in order to tie this all in to LOTR on a more visible level for the audience, and elaborate more on the information that Gandalf gathered before the Ring was passed to Frodo, I just don't know what purpose this new role serves yet.

Also, can we, pretty please, have a movie that doesn't have a romantic subplot squeezed into it where it doesn't fit? I thought that there was certainly nothing they could do to The Hobbit in that regard, but reading the other comments, I'm getting a bit worried. I'm not against romantic subplots, but I wish they weren't practically required for multi-demographic appeal.

But I don't see any problem with adding a few OCs to flesh out the story and give the gals of LotR some more roles - even if they aren't canonical gals. I'm not saying I have a problem with anything in the books - because, honestly, even if I did disagree with the canon in any way, Tolkien was the author/creator and I don't feel I have any right to say 'NO HE DID [insert whatever] WRONG!' - but it's kind of nice to see an extra girl added to the story here and there, and I think people should wait to get a more complete picture of Tauriel's character and involvement before they go off damning her or PJ to every hell that comes to mind.

(On the topic of Arwen replacing Glorfindel in the LotR movies, 1) Legolas did the same thing in the horrendous animated version, so I'm really not sure why Arwen gets so much bull-poo over it and Legolas gets ignored. 2) Yes, that was annoying, but only because Glorfindel seriously needs some movie love. And an actor who doesn't look like George from BBC's Being Human.

Maybe Glorfindel will show up in the Hobbit trilogy? Since it's three movies of one book...)

TLDR Version: As long as she doesn't turn out to be a ginormous Mary-Sue who steals lines from Thranduil, I don't really have any problem with Tauriel showing up in any of the films.

And Legolas is a scene-stealer just as much as Arwen is, just not in the live-action movies. :D