May 2014 Archive, part c

I found the binder with my first Mary-Sue in it. I'll be scanning it and re-printing it six pages to one so it takes up less space, but I might find some gems to share.

At least it was trying to be an original story, as in you couldn't easily identify where I got the ideas.

My grandfather practically lived in our unfinished basement, and we just kind of let it sit for about two years after he died.
He literally never threw out a sheet of paper in his 40-some odd years of working down there. Cleaning up was overwhelming but it happened. There was an old whiteboard down there that still had a message on it that I wrote when I was five.
A lot of stuff all in one place is hard to face and not freak out; just keep your chin up and try to keep positive, basically.
Good luck! You might find a few more gems from when you were younger.

...Have you heard of Wakfu? It's a french flash cartoon. It's based off their flash MMO games but it's still fantasy... and french!

Clip from the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2JrWJfdoqk

And if you find them some other way *ahem*, there are ways to turn off the subtitles...

~AW~

Atlantida. It's about two officers stranded in the Sahara who stumble upon something that they wish they hadn't.

While we are on the subject of finding stuff to read, does anyone have any Evil Dead badfics in mind?

I realise you may well have already read it in English, but if not, you've no excuse for not reading it in French. ;)

(So is it fantasy or sci-fi? I'm going to say the former, because there's no actual science involved, despite the 'space' theme)

hS

...I'd recommend reading Jules Verne's novels, especially Vingt mille lieues sous les mers and L'île mystérieuse (in that order!). Also worth reading is De la Terre à la Lune because big freakin' guns shooting stuff into space is way cool.

Technically, all you need to do is find a fantasy book translated into French... Otherwise.... I have no clue.

Sorry about that, everybody. Due to a combination of finals preparation for the first few days and computer troubles for a while after that, I've been pretty much blacked out of the Internet for the past week or so. I am decidedly not dead, though, and I'll get right back to betaing the things I couldn't finish last time.

...Is it egotistical that I'm kind of touched that multiple people noticed I was missing? Well, maybe "touched" is the wrong word, but "pleased" would definitely make me sound egotistical.

I always liked hearing his response on discussions.

He might have gone on vacation. School just got out here and a lot of people are making for the lakes. And most state/national parks (which have the best lakes) don't have great internet. If that's not the case, I dunno where he is.

He was betaing Blank Sprite too, but disapperared. I just assumed he was busy as he already had troubles keeping up due to Real Life in the previous days, though, so maybe that's the reason?

I have no idea where he might be. Sorry.

but the rest of the post still remains: I can't seem to get ahold of him. Being that he is the beta for my crossover, I want to know if anything's going on with him.

Disclaimer: I've read Neshomeh's replies, but not repeatedly, and I'm not opening them while I write this. So there will be repeated comments between mine and hers.

Other Disclaimer: I'm not going to be looking at 'what's changed' - I'm simply going to look at how your agents/writing stand up right now. And yes, I'm probably going to be focussing on the negatives. If something flags up as interesting, I'll mention it, though.

Third Disclaimer: I know it sounds harsh to put a flat 'Permission denied' in the header, and I would normally leave it to the end of the post - but in this case, I figured you'd want to know before you start reading.

Spencer Ellis

Still a control freak (which could be interesting to see). 'he holds views of Mary Sues that border on racism' is actually an improvement over the rest of HQ, since most agents see them as monsters. Perhaps you mean 'former Mary Sues'?

You claim that Spencer was fired from the Department of Finance, and in the next line you claim he 'eventually' got a job there. You also specify 'desk job', when I happen to know I pointed out that every DoF job is a desk job. And you don't explain how someone who's been kicked out of Plagiarism and DTE managed to move from Finance to the DMS.

Bessie

Her 'strict code of honour' seems to be... er... not being a cartoon villain. 'Egads! This girl doesn't ruthlessly attack defenceless people, slaughter the innocent, kick 'em while they're down, or abandon her friends? Get me the phone number for the Vatican, we need to nominate her for sainthood!' No.

No-one has ever called her a Mary Sue, had her object, and then pointed out that no, she actually is? In the PPC, home of nitpicking? I find that hard to believe.

I'm aware that she speaks bad Shakespearean English because you can't write it properly. That's a terrible idea, it really is. Among other things, it means she will never be able to stop - because you can't write the 'fixed' version.

In her Personality you claim 'she is prone to foolhardy moves in combat'. In her Abilities, you claim she's an excellent fighter who learns from her mistakes. Mismatch much?

How can a badfic be 'unnamed'? I assume you mean 'I'm not going to give a name', but that's far from the same thing, and this is the second assumption I've had to make.

Where did these 'classified assignments' come from? PPC missions aren't classified - what would be the point? If you're suggesting something outside missions, fine, but I hope you have a good explanation for them being given to a rookie.

You are still treating the move from DCPS to DMS as a promotion. I've asked twice now why you're doing that, and you haven't answered either time. It's disrespectful to the agents of Character Protective Services to treat them as 'people who aren't good enough to be assassins yet'.

Vivian Wells

(I'll look at your 'changed up' Personality section here)

Still a hyperactive fangirl (which, again, could be interesting). I'm dubious about her being able to sway 'doesn't care about people's emotions' Ellis with her puppy-dog eyes, though. Also, 'She likes to make fun of people when she knows it won't hurt their feelings too much'? That doesn't sound so much like 'make fun of', which is an act that does hurt people's feelings.

Depression after getting stuck in a temporal distortion sounds unlikely. That seems more like it would cause a phobia than depression. Also, since she's fully recovered, why have you even left it in? You know from the last thread that it's sticky ground to walk on.

Why did Wells accept the 'experimental formula'? This is post-depression, so she just... took random drugs from Plank? According to your description, an addictive drug. Er... why hasn't he been fired, if he's handing out physiology-altering addictive drugs to random people? Because that's a really bad idea.

Plank

How does his 'scientific curiosity' in 'Sues go beyond normal boundaries? PPC Assassins kill them. One DMSE&R agent cheerfully chopped a finger off a still-alive 'Sue. What are you claiming he does beyond that?

He did not join the PPC back when it was called the Organisation. No non-Flowers were in the Organisation. The first non-Flower, Makes-Things, joined about ten years after the name change.

The Department of Floaters is relatively new, but you seem to be implying Plank joined them at the beginning. That's flatly impossible - they postdate his joining by a good twenty years.

His relationship with Wells is... seriously messed up. 'He began a father-daughter relationship' with someone he was treating (unauthorised) as a patient. He gave his 'daughter' addictive drugs.

You seem to be implying, sort of, that Plank's decision to capture Bessie led to his transfer to the DMSE&R. I can see that, though again, you've left me no choice but to start making assumptions. You haven't explained why 'spends time around Mary Sue' led to Plank starting to turn into one. Again, I could make assumptions, but I'm tired of doing that.

You claim he's 'going senile' - at 59, which seems unlikely, particularly for a Star Trek character. You don't tie this to the Bleepium that's blocking half his mind off, even though it looks like you were thinking it.

I do like the idea of 'DMSE&R researcher becomes convinced Mary Sues can be cured'. In fact, I like the basic idea of all four of your agents. But it seems like every single one of the details either flags up as wrong, or seriously disturbs me.

Control Prompt

Using *asterisks* to mimic the italics of the Flowers is an acceptable substitution. But don't call it 'bold'.

The SO is... closer to IC, but not quite there. And he also makes several bizarre mistakes: he says 'debrief' when he means 'brief', and 'here is your mission report'; both of those create the impression that it's a previous mission under discussion.

I also can't imagine why he hasn't commented on Wells sitting on his desk.

Ellis' 'accent' wanders a lot. You go from 'Did you just call me fat?' in this to 'Yer not allowed ta use dadgum Neuralizers on agents' in the next piece. If you want a verbal quirk, it has to be consistent. And this is miles away from it.

I can't really see the SO saying something is 'good'.

And... why is the SO passing messages from Medical to the DMSE&R via an assassin? That's... the most complicated way you could possibly do that.

Random Prompt

This highlights the fact that Bessie should really know she's a former 'Sue by now. People keep saying it to her face, you'd think she'd get the hint.

'I never want you two in here again without my permission, by the way.' Not only is this a very bizarre statement - it's their Response Centre, they live there - but it's inserted into the paragraph pretty much at random.

Neuralysers don't work like that. You have presented it as:

-Leaving a hole in his memory
-Allowing Wells to 'persuade' Ellis to give her money, despite the fact that that's the last thing he seems likely to do.

A neuralyser wipes your memory of a specific period of time and fills it in - or lets you fill it in - with false memories. So what you're saying happened is:

-Ellis comes out to clean the RC.
-Wells joins him.
-Wells persuades him to give her money, or outright steals it.
-Wells persuades him to give her his neuralyser, or outright steals it.
-Wells neuralyses him and tells him 'you don't remember the last hour'.
-Wells gets out of the RC fast enough that Ellis doesn't notice her leaving.

That... ain't a likely series of events, is what I'm saying.

And... overall, there's something seriously missing from these writing samples: humour. You just have... people saying things. The closest you seem to come to trying to be funny is 'ha ha fat jokes' and 'ha ha Wells tricked him'. But they don't come across as funny.

Seriously. Go back and read your Control sample. It contains roughly 33 sentences. Count how many you think contain any humour at all. I don't think it will be many.

Conclusion

In addition to all the above statements, your punctuation is erratic - '*Don't you agents ever knock?* The Sunflower Official "demanded",' and '"Be nice, big guy." Wells scolded him.' are both examples of this.

And... I mean, if I was just having to ask questions about background details - even foreground details - I could accept it simply as 'Dark Brother 16 isn't very good at writing bios', which wouldn't be surprising, because it's a useless skill that very few people have. But I've been throwing out factual errors, seriously disturbing ideas, and impossibilities left, right, and centre. So, with regret, I'm going to have to say Permission Denied.

hS

Bessie seems to retain a lot of her Sue-traits and I feel that to do her well, you are going to have to keep asking yourself if the situation compliments her skills too well.

For your other agents, I'm wondering if they are TOO interesting or if I have a warped sense of good characters.

My main advice would probably to be to find a good beta reader or two, plus maybe review your own stuff a little more; I feel like the miscellaneous errors you made could have been caught with a thorough reading. You shouldn't have to edit and repost bits of your permission application in the comments as clarification or to fix things that you missed, basically.
Find a nice honest friend or even someone off the PPC beta directory and just let them rip apart your writing. It'll be rough to start with, but it will generally help you to learn to catch more of your own slip-ups.
You do seem to have a good sense of understanding how your characters will interact with each other, which is good! Keep that up. Just keep seeking constructive criticism (which you are receiving quite a bit of right now, which is good), take that criticism to heart, and keep trucking along. :)

But there are still some bits that don't quite make sense. The big ones have already been pointed out, but as well as those, there are still a few little ones.

If something bad happened on their last mission (as the SO hints), why aren't the agents more anxious about being summoned to the SO? For all they know, they could be there to be disciplined rather than just receive a mission.

(And was that the real reason the SO gave them the mission in person? Was the anxiety they were supposed to feel about being summoned supposed to be the punishment for whatever they did wrong last time? If so, why didn't you show them feeling it?)

Why is the SO acting as a messenger for the Medical Department? Wouldn't it make more sense for Medical to send the message direct to Plank on his console? Or at least to Plank's department head, instead of the head of a different department?

Is Ellis serious when he says he never wants Wells or Bessie in the RC without his permission? How would that even be workable?

Is Bessie's Shakespearean English deliberately wrong because she's from a Suefic where the author got the Jacobean grammar wrong? If so, why didn't Plank's treatment cure it? Or is the fact that it didn't cure it part of the reason why people don't think Bessie is cured?

(And why don't the Universal Translators translate it to our modern English anyway?)

But anyway, on the whole this feels much better. The character interaction in the two prompts feels much more natural, less forced than last time. You've been getting to know your agents better over the past couple of weeks and it shows.

OTOH the backstories still feel awkward and contrived, like you were working from a long checklist of things you want included, and trying to force the characters around that.

If the PGs turn you down again, maybe you could move back to an earlier point in the story arc (e.g. when Wells and Plank first met) and make that the team you apply for permission with? That way, you don't have to explain everything in one big lump, and the early story can develop more fluidly, more naturally over a few missions and interludes.

First, I feel it is too soon for you to be asking again. You recently said yourself that you haven't read many missions aside from emergency-related stuff, and unless you're a speed-reader with lots of time on your hands, I don't think you can have made much of a dent in my recommended reading list (or other material) since then. The fact that you seem to have the impression that it's normal for agents to receive their missions directly from Flowers and that you still don't get that the Flowers speak in italics, not "quotations," not bold—which hS explicitly told you last time—seems to confirm this.

Second, your characters still raise too many serious questions for me. For instance:

* What's "strictly feminine" about cooking, fashion, and appreciating female attractiveness? That reads as rather sexist, don't you think?

* Why has everyone been bounced around through different departments? Ellis and Wells particularly, but Bessie and Plank don't seem to have been content with one assignment to their names, either. Are you playing PPC Department Bingo or something? More importantly, have you considered that that makes them look sort of incompetent?

* Why does Plank require an external trigger to become obsessed with curing Sueism? Why does that trigger have to be Suemonia, since it doesn't even work the way you want it to in the first place? It would make more sense to just have that grow out of his natural scientific passion, IMO, and you wouldn't have to mess with an established PPC concept that way.

* After all that talk about depression in the last thread, how is it that you still figure clinical depression (as opposed to depressed mood) can be caused by a single instance of getting stuck in a temporal distortion and then completely cured... by speed pills...? Or did Plank just randomly decide to give her those after she recovered? I'm not clear on the progression of these events. Or how the character is improved by having superpowers anyway.

* Did you know that the only agent known for using a neuralyzer (note correct spelling) to get her way was a creepy, psychotic nutjob who made her partner miserable?

* Shouldn't Bessie twig onto the fact that there's something weird about her, with her unusual speech pattern, awesome fighting skills, and Ellis calling her a Sue all the time? Has she never stopped to wonder about those things? What does she believe her past to be?

* How did Ellis, with his poor track record in other action departments and inability to play well with others, get himself transferred from Finance to the DMS—on a fairly uncommon team of three rather than the usual two, no less?

Whether the other PGs will find these things to be prohibitive or not, I dunno, but I think you're letting your enthusiasm get the better of you. You seem like a nice guy, and I apologize for being harsh on you in the past (and maybe now), but I really want to see you slow down and think things through more.

~Neshomeh

After a lot of scrolling and checking, I remembered that my two Permission requests were about a month apart, but then just because that's how long it took me, it doesn't mean that's how long it should take you, we're 2 different people after all (unless there's something we're not telling each other, or ourself or however that would work :P).
It should be noted that I am in no way a PG and so my thoughts below don't really count for much.

I like Spencer Ellis, well like may not be the right word for it, but he's one of those characters that I like as a character but would absolutely hate as a person IRL if you get what I mean. Just one thing, how did he get into the DMS from the Department of Finance, did he ask? did he misbehave til he was fired? Just a little thing that I'd like filled in personally. I would also like to find about about Moore at some point, does he appear from time to time to talk to Ellis? How is he doing in DIA? What is he like? etc.

With Bessie, I'm not so sure, I think she works as a character and could be quite fun to interact with, but I'm not so sure on the 'bouncing around' that she's done, Ellis I can understand, Bessie no so much. Personally I'd remove her bit about being in the CPS, instead having her go straight to the DMS after she comes out of medical.

Wells, seems a bit weird to me, you seem to have made her into a somewhat stereotypical young-teenage girl. You've also had her bounce around many different departments that it almost feels to me like you're trying to get some kind of 'achievement' by having had at least one character in each department before you start writing missions for them. You've also missed out how she comes to be in the DMS, the last department you list is Temporal Offences, then you have her thing with Plank, yet Plank is in the Department of Mary Sue Experimentation and Research, which isn't even an action department, so why, if she as partnered with Plank either of them would be out in the field, I don't really get. Finally the last couple of lines are a bit confusing, you say Wells 'then faced a troubling time in her life' but don't say how it was troubling or anything, instead moving on to something about Plank, which should rightfully be in Planks's part not Wells'.

Which leads me onto Plank, I've never seen someone ask for Permission with 4 characters, 3's a rarity. But onto Plank himself. He seems OK, I think. Once again though you seem to have forgotten to tell us how he ends up in the Department of Mary Sue Experimentation and Research, it's not really clear especially when you consider's Wells' backstory. Another thing is that from Plank's backstory he and Wells seem to have worked together for about 5 years in the DMS, now I'm no expert, but that sounds like a very long time without either of them going insane/needing to take a rest.

A quick note as well. It's Inventor not Inventer.

Overall (I'm not going into the prompts in this post, I've already gone on long enough) I think it's better than last time, but I'm not sure if you need as many agents as you've got at the moment. Personally I'd keep Ellis and Bessie and introduce Plank and Wells at a future point, I'd keep mentioning them though, maybe even making Plank and Wells the pair that recruited Ellis, little bits like that that hint to them until you've got to a point where you can write all 4 of them in.

These are my thoughts anyway.

Storme Hawk
(who's currently browsing the archives to find out just how far back they go)

After a lot of scrolling and checking, I remembered that my two Permission requests were about a month apart, but then just because that's how long it took me, it doesn't mean that's how long it should take you, we're 2 different people after all (unless there's something we're not telling each other, or ourself or however that would work :P).
It should be noted that I am in no way a PG and so my thoughts below don't really count for much.

I like Spencer Ellis, well like may not be the right word for it, but he's one of those characters that I like as a character but would absolutely hate as a person IRL if you get what I mean. Just one thing, how did he get into the DMS from the Department of Finance, did he ask? did he misbehave til he was fired? Just a little thing that I'd like filled in personally. I would also like to find about about Moore at some point, does he appear from time to time to talk to Ellis? How is he doing in DIA? What is he like? etc.

With Bessie, I'm not so sure, I think she works as a character and could be quite fun to interact with, but I'm not so sure on the 'bouncing around' that she's done, Ellis I can understand, Bessie no so much. Personally I'd remove her bit about being in the CPS, instead having her go straight to the DMS after she comes out of medical.

Wells, seems a bit weird to me, you seem to have made her into a somewhat stereotypical young-teenage girl. You've also had her bounce around many different departments that it almost feels to me like you're trying to get some kind of 'achievement' by having had at least one character in each department before you start writing missions for them. You've also missed out how she comes to be in the DMS, the last department you list is Temporal Offences, then you have her thing with Plank, yet Plank is in the Department of Mary Sue Experimentation and Research, which isn't even an action department, so why, if she as partnered with Plank either of them would be out in the field, I don't really get. Finally the last couple of lines are a bit confusing, you say Wells 'then faced a troubling time in her life' but don't say how it was troubling or anything, instead moving on to something about Plank, which should rightfully be in Planks's part not Wells'.

Which leads me onto Plank, I've never seen someone ask for Permission with 4 characters, 3's a rarity. But onto Plank himself. He seems OK, I think. Once again though you seem to have forgotten to tell us how he ends up in the Department of Mary Sue Experimentation and Research, it's not really clear especially when you consider's Wells' backstory. Another thing is that from Plank's backstory he and Wells seem to have worked together for about 5 years in the DMS, now I'm no expert, but that sounds like a very long time without either of them going insane/needing to take a rest.

A quick note as well. It's Inventor not Inventer.

Overall (I'm not going into the prompts in this post, I've already gone on long enough) I think it's better than last time, but I'm not sure if you need as many agents as you've got at the moment. Personally I'd keep Ellis and Bessie and introduce Plank and Wells at a future point, I'd keep mentioning them though, maybe even making Plank and Wells the pair that recruited Ellis, little bits like that that hint to them until you've got to a point where you can write all 4 of them in.

These are my thoughts anyway.

Storme Hawk
(who's currently browsing the archives to find out just how far back they go)

I thought that your stories seemed good! But agents don't get their assignments from Flowers... They get them on their console. The SO seemed a little bit out of character. Otherwise you stories seem to be fairly good. :3

I didn't see what fandoms you like, other than LotR, so, here! You get a letter opened shaped like Sting! Welcome aBoard!

Glad to see you've read the original series and are eager to connect. What other fandoms are you interested in? How'd you come across Tolkien's works? Where'd you first hear about us?

Sorry for all my questions; I like learning about people. Your newbie gifts are a box of erasable colored pencils, a mini tape dispenser, and a Luigi plush. Enjoy them! =D

Hello and welcome to the PPC! Stick around a while and enjoy the craziness. I would post a link to the Permission page, but I am writing this on a phone, and I don't want to feel with the HTML.

Either way your newbie gift:
*rummaging in bag of holding*
Hobbit fan... what to give a Hobbit fan...
*continues rummaging*
Aha!
*Pulls out snowglobe*
Here, have a snowglobe with a replica of your favorite locale inside!

I found this fic a while back. It is NSFW. For Her.

I'd like to get some other people's opinions on this fic. I think I've kind of lost my confidence on picking targets. My first thought was that this would be very workable as a Bad Slash mission, but then I was kind of eh...

The more the stronger. Here! Have your very own Hobbit plushie! :D

I'm 99Hedgehog and I would tell you to just call me 99, but everyone seems to prefer Hedgehog for whatever reason. Anyways, here, have a Big Book of Tropes!

THE EMPEROR PROTECTS

Have this fake female-Dwarf for fem!Bilbo to wear. I'm sure Thorin will appreciate it.

Have some cookies! Whatever type is your favorite. :P
Welcome aboard!

Hello and welcome!

I give to you now a lined Infinite Notebook, complete with urple covers and wilver bindings. Enjoy, and don't look at it straight on!

-Aila

Missions aren't exactly written in just a day after all, and I know at least I have one in the works.

(The movies are themselves badfic, so you have a nesting doll of badness when it comes to the Pit! Target-rich environment.)

You know how they say never to look a gift horse in the mouth? Less Hobbit missions means less Hobbit badfics… That we know of. Great. Thanks for that.

On another note, you're new here? Great! Have this Pocky I stole from Sakura Kyoko. Just don't tell anyone who gave it to you--she's STILL hunting me.

I've been wondering about that myself. In fact, I got around to searching for a few Hobbit badfic, but I ran out of steam before I even started trawling the Fanfiction page…

But anyways, good day to you, SongWitch! You aren't the type who steals voices from mermaids, are you? Because that kind tends to get impaled on ship masts. Just saying.

To use the example of Gimli, he's part of the Fellowship, and nearly always appears alongside the rest in a Tenth Walker fic. It's the fact that he remains (usually, mostly) himself despite being touched by the badfic's words--and the fact that happened consistently through dozens and dozens of LotR missions--that make him "OOC Resistant."

Personally, I feel a character should show up in numerous missions, consistently remaining in-character in the face of the author's Words, before we tack the OOC resistance label on them.

IIRC OOC Resistance is a special trait. Like 99 said, characters ignored by the Suethor will be in-character because there's nothing to drive them out of it; to take an example from my recent mission, Bruenor Battlehammer, Catti-brie, Jarlaxle and Artemis Entereri are all IC despite being from the Drizzt series because they don't appear in that particular "fic" I sporked; I don't think any of the above characters merit OOC Resistance, which is usually reserved to powerful beings such as Elrond and the Valar or consistently-ignored characters such as Gaspode the Wonder Dog, the TARDIS or Gimly.

I'd imagine characters who don't receive attention from the Sue (positive or negative) would be in character.

THE EMPEROR PROTECTS!

I don't think so. The reason that some characters are "immune" to the Suefluence seems to be more attributed to a lack of positive attention by Suethors rather than the character's own volition or will. Likewise, many characters seem immune to OOC-ness due to a lack of attention.
This is just my observation, anyways :0

How about Bob Y. Stander? Or maybe Owan Looker? Beck Ground? Cy Vilian (not to be confused with his cousin, Cy Villain)? Noah Name Given? Unless of course you wanted a non-punny name.

Joe Average perhaps?

... to point at the Official Fanfiction University of Discworld? You might enjoy it. ;)

hS

I liked it. The characters are interesting without being too complicated. The bit about making her write something was fun. And I loved the random prompt story, seeing the control freak lose control like that.

(Now where else have I seen an agent who used to work for a small publishing company before and joined the PPC after reading an ad...? I'm a trendsetter!!!)

Overall, I think this looks good. The characters sound like good, clean fun, and I have to admit I'm intrigued by the idea of an agent who is literally a cat. However, I have one major criticism and a few minor things I want to point out.

First, the big thing, which is to do with the scenario in your random prompt. It... doesn't make much sense. I'm fine with Silver taking a mission solo while Anna is assigned elsewhere (though it would be more usual for Silver to get someone else assigned to her temporarily), but I'm confused about where the other agents came from (were they accidentally assigned to the same fic?) and how they could possibly mistake Silver for a Sue they've been following long enough to compile a full charge list. I thought there might be an explanation to the effect that the amulet Silver was holding changed her appearance or fooled the agents' equipment or something, but all she was doing was holding it, which is not terribly incriminating. And there was nothing else to go on, not even a word about Silver and the Sue looking similar. Speaking of which, was she even in disguise? And if she wasn't in disguise, how come the other agents didn't see her flash patch? There's a lot that needs explaining.

I think the basic idea could work if you dealt with those problems, though, and the scene was amusing. I liked the dialogue between the orc agents.

Now the little questions:

* RC 19~Pie? What? If there's a joke, I don't get it.

* Silver is supposed to be quiet around strangers, becoming chatty with people she knows. However, she's very exuberant toward Anna right away in the control prompt, which seems like a contradiction. Is she only quiet in groups, but otherwise warms up to people quickly? How big does the group need to be to make her get quiet?

* Is the backstory about Silver being co-editor of a magazine based on your real life experience? Is it a student publication, or family-owned, perhaps? Otherwise, this could well be my own ignorance talking, but I'm not sure how a young college-age person gets to a position as high as co-editor even in a small publishing company.

* I know this is something that happens later, but how is it going to work for Skyfoot to live with Silver and Anna if she works in the DMS? Doesn't she have a partner of her own? Or is she going to transfer?

* How does Skyfoot's collar get to her wrist when she transforms? It could just stay a collar. Alternatively, the collar could simply translate from Cat to English, like Dug's collar in Up! She could still transform as needed for missions with the aid of the disguise generator.

And a couple SPaG notes:

* You need to use first-line indents or double line-breaks to set off new paragraphs. I recommend double line-breaks. It's standard online, and it's easy.

* Your dialogue punctuation is a little spotty. There are a few places where the punctuation and/or capitalization are off:

- “Anna. Anna Parks.” Anna replied should be "Anna. Anna Parks," Anna replied

- “I think she’s tortured Agent Silver for information.” One orc growled. should be "I think she's tortured Agent Silver for information," one orc growled.

- Silver gulped, “Sunflower Official! Floating Hyacinth! The Marquis de Sod!” should be Silver gulped. "Sunflower Official! Floating Hyacinth! The Marquie de Sod!" (You can't gulp and speak at the same time.)

- “LEGOLAS HELP ME!” The ‘Sue shrieked should be "LEGOLAS HELP ME!" the 'Sue shrieked (Assuming she shrieked the words rather than shouting, then shrieking wordlessly.)

* I'm guessing you aren't sure how to use HTML on the Board, but titles of long works such as [The] Lord of the Rings should be italicized, and you should use italic or bold type for emphasis rather than asterisks. You can look up HTML lots of places, including our FAQ: For Newbies (and soon FAQ: The Board, because this is kind of an oversight and I'm going to fix it).

... I think that's everything. I think what I'd like you to do is re-write the random prompt to plug up those plotholes and do some tweaking based on my other comments, and if everything is ship-shape after that, I will give my verdict. {= )

~Neshomeh

http://www.quotev.com/story/4548414/Arrow-Through-the-Heart-Legolas-Love-Story/

That thread about PPC ads apparently stuck with a few of us. I mean, one of my agents got in through one, one of darkbrother's prospective/future agents applied through one, and now Silver as well. That's not a complaint, I just find it kind of interesting. Also, why was Silver in a fic that other agents were doing a mission in? Don't we have people to stop that from happening? Then again, agents aren't very good at following the rules anyway. Overall, I like it, so good luck.

Do response centers lock from the outside? Sofar I have seen people ducking into the nearest RC, but it always seems abandoned or unclaimed. I've also seen an RC that should've been locked with Rowling magic from the inside.

Basically, I'm thinking of having the first agent of the RC settle in before her partner gets there, but she is away when he gets there. Would he have a key? Do RCs automatically know who is supposed to be able to get in, and only lets in strangers when it is dramatic or funny?

I just read a story that could easily be whitewashed into a publishable fic if it was any good. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2473356/10/Vi-the-Vamp

The original character bad guy decides to stop being evil at the end, and somehow hopes to atone for his deeds while being normal. I think he'd be perfect for Intel or a paperwork division.

What are the rules for recruiting original characters from bad fics? Either for yourself or putting them up for adoption?

When my vampire goes into fics where she is forced to or prefers to wear a human disguise, would there be a problem with eating or drinking?

As in, does she need to fast or rely on blood in human form so that she doesn't have anything dangerous in her system at the end of a mission? I was thinking of having her eat something "dry" while in human disguise and then violently regurgitate it as a vampire.

As for preferring to wear a disguise even under a SEP field, she'd be trading weakened physical stats and slow healing for the ability to swim without dying.

If there is no issue with her eating while disguised, it might become a weird habit to steal nice food from settings.

Somewhere along the line, someone with a poorly-calibrated screen wrote "green" in Kain's description and half of the fandom uses "green" when describing him.

Is that a formal charge or an annoyance charge? Is it a judgement call depending on how bad the rest of it is?

I'm seeing some cases where canonically the spelling of something depends on which official source you are referencing.

I see Anacrothe vs Anarcrothe, Sarafan vs Seriphan, Mobius is acknowledged as a common mangling of Moebius.

Someone deliberately misspelled Usctenheim about four times in a sentence before admitting that they couldn't try to pronounce it without reference.

And as far as board-based minis... I don't care to look certain things up when I'm making a post rather than making a fic.

When I say deliberately stupid, I'm talking about stuff that has the same flavor of humor as PPC slice-of-life, but they are wrecking canon universes to do it. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1025334/1/LoK-Fluff I can't tell if it's bad enough to spork, but it has inserts using plotholes as hammerspace.

Am I correct in assuming that if a story was written before a new installment in the canon contradicts it, the fiction is judged based on what canon was when it was written?

Say for instance that someone wrote a fiction about the Star Trek Moriarty hologram between his creation and the episode where they encountered him again.

I might be wrong in thinking there was a time when no one but the creators of Metroid knew that Samus was a girl. If someone finds an early fic where they call her a guy, it might require looking at the date.

One of my favorite types of fics are the "Trapped in TV Land" where it's not the OC's fault and they aren't thrilled about it. Similar to the LOTR fic "Don't Panic."

If I can find enough wrong with it to spork it, is it appropriate to consider the Insert to be a victim and just untangle the mess without punishing her? (The recruits from mine actually have done enough to warrant at least a trip to FicPsych to talk to them about their Sue-like ambitions.)

Is there a way to transfer a mission to another agent, or does it require hacking skills and severe consequences when found out?

Would a Despatch agent see that they are about to get a flood of overflow assignments that the hibernating Legacy of Kain agent can't handle? Or would that agent have to know somebody who is organizing the bounced missions and hear about it over drinks?

Basically I'd like an agent team to specifically be looking for someone to recruit that knows the canon. Maybe a Flower prodded this course?

Love me some tech questions.


Analog CAD: I love the idea of forcing agents to squint at a tiny, illegible set of dials and having to do mental math to get a result but I have to admit that I don't quite understand the nature of this proposed CAD. Are the internal components radically different from the digital-readout CADs or is it just the display that's different? The way you worded this seems to indicate the former but I just want to be sure.

I'd just like to point out one thing: having a CAD fail spectacularly is a PPC staple. Missions wouldn't feel the same way if the tech worked properly...


Disguises: it's a full conversion. The agent effectively becomes the target and shares all properties of that body.

Now if only I were caught up on the show and had BBC1...

First The Guardians of the Galaxy movie, now more Doctor who. And Heroes of Cosplay is returning. Can't wait!

Never played, but it's obvious they are just hardcore media watchdogs who think that goddamn BATMAN should be banned.

It's obvious that was a made-up article. I've never played the game, but, obviously, that's not what it's like.

...I am a big fan of the various DC animated universes. I've collected almost all of the DCAU or "Timmverse" on DVD or digital (the exceptions being Static Shock and The Zeta Project, neither of which I had much interest in). And while I don't write "mission" missions anymore, I have been considering whipping up some MSTs in something like Young Justice or Teen Titans. Goodness knows there's enough badfics in either continuum to sate me for the foreseeable future.

I was never really able to get into the Marvel cartoons as much. I do enjoy the movieverse, though. The last film I saw in theaters was the new Captain America one, which I thought was pretty solid.

Finally, getting away from Marvel and DC, I'm a big fan of the superhero tabletop RPG Mutants and Masterminds. I haven't admittedly tried the third edition rules (all my sourcebooks and world-fluff are second edition) but it's pretty fun. The predecessor of Gremlin actually started out in part as my character in a Young Justice-style campaign.

So... yeah. Superheroes. They're pretty cool. And stuff.

...and a bunch of other canons, but I digress.

It's actually sort of in the finishing touches stage right now. I think I need to write up one additional scene at the beginning, and then it's off to find a beta for it.

But yeah, there is quite a dearth of Marvel Universe sporkings around here, and that needs to change at some point...

The only person I know that might know enough to do a mission to the comics!verse, is Datajunkie (Nifar on IRC), and I believe he'd say he still wouldn't risk it. There are a few missions. I'm not sure if those are in the movie!verse or comics!verse, though.

If you read this, Data, my kids still say you are their hero when it comes to comics and such. :D

On the other hand, I love to talk about comics. Especially the various cartoons based on them, and I love the movies. I love reading the movie!verse fanfic.

Have you read the Marvel Now Captain America comic? I have the first story arc (1-10) for that, and it is awesome!

It's actually a Doctor Who x Justice League crossover, but still.

The thing is, though, people only spork the fics they feel like sporking. Most of us have certain criteria, and fandom is only one part of it. If there aren't many superhero fics, or Hobbit fics, or [insert fandom here] fics that are bad enough, funny enough, weird enough, or character-building enough to tickle anyone's murderous fancy, then there aren't going to be many missions there. It's very nearly as simple as that.

Nobody talks about Farscape, either, and it's my favorite TV show of all time. That fandom is where I got the carapace on my smiley. {= ) There's only one mission there, and that's because the fandom is pretty small and pretty intelligent, so the worst we get is usually just mediocre, not mission-worthy. Otherwise I'd be all kinds of all over that.

~Neshomeh

I have Quite a lot of Fandoms as well. Actually not really, but I've been branching out to continua that I know well enough to pick out canon breaches. I have had to do the looking myself because many of the reported fics are outside of my knowledge or skill.

As far as Superhero stuff, I would have to limit myself to Cartoon or Movie versions. Though I still have some comics dealing with canon universe ruptures that didn't last long. (Age of Apocalypse, Marvel vs DC)

I imagine that it would be easier to do Legend of Zelda as long as the original writer stuck with one version of canon.

I think we have had a few missions to deal with comic badfic, but the general consensus (at least in-universe) is that canon is so tangled up in its default state it's almost impossible to determine what fits in acceptably and what's Suefic/otherwise bad. Rather than chew the Board out for not talking about what you want to talk about, though, maybe take on a few such fics yourself? We don't have any rule against it. :P

But happy 25 y'all! I prepared for the preparation of the preparing of the preparer of Geek Pride day, and I pulled it off! Had a wicked party!

I didn't have a lilac towel, so I wore a purple one like a cape! :3

I know where everything is...



... apart from my actual physical copy of the Hitchhikers' Guide series, which is buried in one of the many boxes of books in my garage.

PC the not quite hoopy frood

What good timing! I was actually reading Night Watch this past week... I should revisit Hitchhiker next.


Quote of the day:
"YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF CAKE." -Death

Joyful Geek Pride Day to all! I shall be keeping my lilac towel in my bag as I have no lilac to wear.

Truth! Justice! Reasonably-priced love! And a hard-boiled egg!

This is the first place I've ever lived where lilacs were still blooming on the 25th of May.

I've seen this post year after year, and I'm curious: what is that saying you always title the post with? Song lyrics?

It won't be the 25th here for another three and a half hours, but oh well. I think there might actually still be lilacs this year! I must remember to grab a sprig or two.

My towel is, of course, on its hook in the bathroom.

May the Force be with us, always!

~Neshomeh

for them being able to read and watch stuff that we can't? I'm sure they've had access to this speech all along. (Heck, they could have just taken a portal and attended!) I mean, they get to actually go places, and that would be fantastic, but I would be ecstatic to get access to some of the stuff they must have! The complete Doctor Who everything (the lack of completeness is what keeps me from watching), the ending of The Canterbury Tales, stuff published in other worlds, even something like Aaron Burr's missing correspondence! I could live forever reading and watching stuff like that!

(doctorlit is basically just a greedy little leech who will never be content until he has swallowed every story ever into his hungry sponge-brain.)

Now, down to business: that's pretty fantastically awesome. And is made all the more so by following the links to find this article - I've actually heard of that party! I remember reading about the catering somewhere. (Also, in that photo - the Professor reminds me a lot of our current Bilbo. (Also, I'm now imagining Tolkien as a Time Lord called 'the Professor' and it is awesome))

There's a poem in Elvish (no word on which!) in there... and, just, wow.

So go on then... things that it would be both awesome, hilarious, and incredibly frustrating if it turns out he said in his speech:

"Some things are left deliberately ambiguous - such as the question of whether Elves have wings..."

"The heart of my legendarium is, and always has been, Tom Bombadil."

"This morning I handed my son Christopher the completed manuscript of my 'Silmarillion', to be published no sooner than 2015..."

"My one wish is that no-one ever try to extend my sub-creation. Middle-earth is mine, and mine alone."

"I would like to restate what I have asserted all along: my writings are not fiction, but actually happened. I have spent many a happy hour in Rivendell, in the company of the sons of Elrond - and have encoded its location in the maps in my books."

I think that's enough to go along with. ;)

hS - "To the hobbits! And may they outlast all the wizards!"

Putting it on my personal list for now, but I do not want it.

I think it is one of a short series about the Rouges. They appear to be a world-hopping duo. Beware of homophone problems, not really homophone problems, capitalization neglect, but they seem okay on punctuation by comparison.

"I need my mead's!" because he was hyperventilating.

Half Life 2, Wall-E, Portal 3 crossover Half Life 3, and I linked the Portal fic.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7551882/1/Rouge-Guardians-portal

OK so I have no idea what I'm doing but... I'm doing it! And you can't stop me!

Its for teens for language. lots of it! well... not THAT much

Also I fail at grammar and spelling so tell me if I missed spelling and stuff... and the only thing I own is Cyra and Cody.

Neshomeh, I don't think I have any claims older than 18 months--I'm not sure I've even been a Boarder for 18 months yet, actually--but just in case, please leave mine be? I don't have enough time to go through them properly right now (limited internet and limited time, as I'm on vacation in a different country). While there may well be a few I'm going to un-claim, I'm not currently sure which they are, and, like I said, don't have the time to do it right this second (not to mention you just requested not to edit those pages just now), so...

Yes. Please leave mine alone for now? I don't believe any of them are older than 16 months (wow), but if they are, just...notify me instead, or else consider everything of mine renewed for the moment? I'll go through it all properly when I get the chance (hopefully reasonably soon).

Thanks,

~DF

I'm going to begin by removing old and dead fics from the Unclaimed list, then move on to the Claimed list. Please avoid editing either one until I'm finished. Thanks!

~Neshomeh

I've deleted two of my claims, one which I don't think I'll be doing anyway (moved to the unclaimed list) and one where the fic has been deleted. Too bad I didn't keep a copy, it was a sequel to one I had already sporked.

I also added claims for the two fics I am currently working on a mission for. Better later than never, I guess. ^^

Just realized I hadn't put a date on my claim, so I'm glad you gave us a warning.

Good thing my claims are not that old. They are maybe about a month old, and I intend to begin working on them as soon as I'm done with my "ironing".

How'd you get those little stars in the post?

Renewed an old claim.

I don't have permission yet, so I don't know if mine can even stay.

I added it to my private list, and I doubt anyone would risk my yelling or having to learn a new fandom to take it.

Black Hearts - T rated. Claimed by zdimensia (pending Permission)
"A retelling of Raziel's story. However, a new character is introduced, giving Raziel a romantic twist." It starts out with a blatant Mary-Sue, but then devolves into straight copy-paste of the script where the romantic interest barely gets any lines, and half of those are stolen.

that I still want as renewed. Deleted one I don't want.

The deal with Jacer (who used female pronouns if I remember correctly) was long, ugly, and messy, caused real pain for some members, and the details are probably best not discussed on the Board. But I think maybe safest thing to say is that Jacer broke several of the rules laid out in the PPC Constitution on multiple occasions and to a degree that the generally extremely forgiving and willing to see the best in everyone group here was forced to ban.

Do they make acceptable gifts for newbies and birthdays? Cause if not I have some 'splaining to do.

I cannot find a mission I read recently. It was about a training center and a quartet of junior agents. One was an Ewok named Wallace.

There were two minis: SHIELD and SHEILD. They held on to one of the minis to drag them to the next instance where he would appear (because their RA broke.)

One mini per misspelling. If the mini is owned they should make an effort to take it back home. It's agents are probably worried about it.

Usually if the name is consistently misspelled, then the mini stands in the place of the character. I don't have specific link on hand right now, but I am pretty sure I've seen that in one of Nesh's missions? I know I've seen it before.

Since this was answered and this thread is here, instead of making a new one, I do have a few more questions about the PPC that I really should have asked earlier. Would an online RPG be considered a canon that someone could have an agent from?

. . .the more the merrier? :P If you need me I'm at elizelliel@yahoo.com.

I'm planning on an interlude where Agent Rina's mother find out about the PPC and goes to yell at the SO. It probably won't be ready for a while yet, but I'd love it if someone could look it over to make sure the SO is in character. I'm a bit nervous about writing a long-established character. ^_^'

My e-mail's linked in my name on this comment. Need to dust off my betaing and PPC stuff anyhow.

Wow, we have Flowers like that? Now I'm going to have to speculate wildly about which

...

...

...

... it's the DOOCH, isn't it?

(No, don't tell me - it's more fun this way)

(Also, you might want to quickly browse the Fanfic Land/World archives to see if it popped up there. It might tell you what the 'fanon' is, though I admit the only Flower I can think of that fits is the Clover, aaaaand he's dead)

hS

My email is baridthetroll(at)gmail(dot)com.

-Phobos, lover of obscure Departments.

of an unexplored canon is a great honor that should not be taken lightly.

Unfortunately I don’t know anything about The Legacy of Kain, so I can’t help you with the details. But there are some general rules that can be derived from watching Minis in other canons.

There may be some exceptions for word worlds which I don’t know well, but generally the Minis are based on one species, thus "just follow the species that their namesakes come from" doesn’t sound like a good idea. Keeping Minis consistent would be preferable over creating another exception. Also, a well-written Mini keeps the personality of the character it is supposed to be, but, with minor variations, the physical features of the species it is based on.

Often, the Minis are based on something that occurred only briefly in canon, not one of the main (antagonist) forces. This may disqualify demons, vampires, hylden and humans. Are there any minor monsters or machines that qualify as "creepy if their Mini versions weren’t so cute in the agents’ eyes"? (Machines? Yes, among others we have mini-telescreens from 1984).

Since the misspellings that spawn Minis shouldn’t exist in good writing, looking for something that "shouldn’t be there" may also help to find the Mini species. The reason why it "shouldn’t be there" may vary. In many canons, it involves "created by an evil being for malevolent purposes", like Balrogs, or it may just canonically be encountered in a place where it canonically shouldn’t live, like Aragog in Hogwart’s Forbidden Forrest (Acromantulas are supposed to be a tropical species). More examples may be found in this discussion of the Pokemon Minis.

Lacking knowledge, I cannot comment on this doppelganger business.

HG, trying to be helpful.

Welcome aboard my friend! :3

I actually like Homestuck, RWBY, Artemis Fowl, Harry Potter, and The Chronicles of Narnia as well! So, as your newb gift, (everyone gets one, only one guy actually used it.) you get one coupon for a FREE custom gunblade of your choice, and because it isn't RWBY without it, some Dust. Been meaning to watch AoT... should I?

This is a bit late and it's been a while since I've been here.
Any who, please accept my gift of an Official Fanfiction University of Doctor Who sweatshirt, a potato cannon (100% Sasha approved), and a basket of russet potatoes (Also 100% Sasha approved).

MLAATR has a fandom? I used to love that show so much!

Ah, another newbie. So shiny!~ A*HEM*
*coughs* Nice to meet you! I'm a bit of a lurker, but you're a newbie and. Well.
I have a feeling your going to fit right in!
As a gift, I give you keg of Goblin Ale, straight from the Labyrinth.
Be warned, it is stronger than Bleepka, and even Purple Stuff cannot rid you of its hangover.
Use it wisely.
Emma

That's quite a list of fandoms. Here's a popcorn machine and a fancy top hat!

Hey there, I'm 99Hedgehog and I'd tell you to just call me 99 but everyone seems to prefer Hedgehog for whatever reason. Anyways, here, have a set of Gothic Plate Armour, a Renaissance longsword and a Heater Shield!

THE EMPEROR PROTECTS!

Have some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans!

It's good that you've read everything already. Allow me to join the choorus of "Welcome to the PPC!"

*peruses list of fandoms*
Hmmm, MLP and Phoenix Wright, eh? Have you seen Turnabout Storm, by any chance? It's a wonderful MLP/PW crossover, and if the ending of the last case of PW5 was not inspired by this fanfic, that would be scary...

We also chare Artemis Fowl, Professor Layton, and Narnia.

Are Pokemon and Bakugan: Battle Brawlers also part of your fandoms, by any chance?

As for your newbie gift...
*rummages through bag of holding*
Here, have a snowglobe with a replica of your favorite fictional city inside!

Hi, have some fudge!

*Ahem* Yes, I like using the Dramatic Voice. 'Tis fun.

Anyhoo, how are you, Cozmo? Artemis Fowl, The Chronicles of Narnia, and RWBY are all very fun and amazing canons. (I bet you can't wait for July.) So is MLP:FIM. Good for you.

As a welcome gift, I hereby give you a Fluffy Velociraptor. They are friendly little critters, about the size of a Golden Retriever from nose to tail, and covered in long and (insanely) fluffy fur. This one is named Gonzo, and he is green. I would have liked to give you an Elemental Time Squirrel as well, but the time lock is broken on their cage, and I need to borrow go borrow a TARDIS again to track them all down.

Have a lovely day, Cozmo. (And don't give Gonzo sausage. Whatever you do.)

Hello, there. Welcome to the PPC.

So you have read everything you need? That's good. It will serve you well. Trust me. How do I know? Because I used to try without doing it. X)

Hello! You need a welcome present... Have a plush Ponified version of your favorite Harry Potter character! Brohoof! /)*(<br>
And don't worry about fancy emoticons, as long as they're appropriate. So, basically, not in stories and that's about it. ;)

Here's a happy dance for you!

('-') ('-')/ (/'-')/ ('-')/

Welcome, welcome. Since you've already read the stuff, I'll just give you this cup of Lapsang Souchong tea.
Just don't let the leaves eat you.

For your newbie gift… a plushie Fireheart (star)! :D :D

Professor Layton, huh? Have you played any Ace Attorney? Because the crossover was particularly awesome.
And please don't lose the proper grammar. Bad grammar hurts us, yesss it does.
As for gifts... I have this... marker pen! It even writes on glass! Heh heh... heh? Yeah.
I'll leave now, before I embarrass myself further. :-)

Hello, Please to meet you. Enjoy this AOT poncho. Also please take this Mini-Eren. Careful he's a biter

Hello and welcome!

I give to you a lined Infinite Notebook, complete with urple covers and wilver bindings. Don't look at it straight on!

-Aila

(And please keep to proper spelling and grammar. I know that I, at the very least, cringe at bad SPaG, and though I don't make a point of pointing it out, it's always nice to read properly-formatted sentences. I'm very nearly certain everyone else here feels the same way. And, um, sorry if that came of as confrontational, or rude, or something. I'm not good at this.)

The world has felt a great loss. Hey it's been awhile since you last emailed. You okay?

May we all still rise to her dreams for this world, as human beings; may we all, as writers, carry the torch that she lit so brightly.

I've heard her name before… ;( RIP, Maya Angelou...

1. Joker... just Joker. Not only is he scary, he is unpredictable, smart, and UTTERLY INSANE.
   
   2. The Brethren Moons from Dead Space. They don't have an active role, at least for the most part, but they are moon sized conglomerations of millions of tons of dead flesh, with the combined intelligence of all of that flesh, and are hell bent on literally devouring all living things in the universe. THEY HAVE WIPED OUT EVERY SINGLE SPECIES IN THE GALAXY EXCEPT HUMANS.
   
   3. Fanfiction-styled Sakura Haruno from Naruto. If that doesn't count, then Ice King from Adventure Time.
   
   4. Andrew Ryan. He was an a**hole, sure, but he had a dream, and he saw it through, even as it came crashing down around his ears. And then his city is usurped by his worst enemy. And then a not-so-worst-enemy right after.

Hmm...

1. Makishima Shougo from Psycho-Pass. In the show, a vast computer network called the Sybil System more or less dominates everyone's lives (and in fact determines what job you should go into). Makishima is out to destroy it, and he does so at least partly by taking advantage of people's dependence on the system. (See, for example, the scene where he kills Akane's best friend after her Dominator fails.) This guy never loses his cool, quotes classic literature (including the Bible at one point), and takes no prisoners. Sociopaths make great villains, huh?

2. The Autons. Mannequins look creepy enough without being under control of an alien hive mind. Especially not when said hive mind can extend to a trash can and somehow replace Mickey with one of them. (Also the hound from "The Hounds of Baskerville" even though we never actually see it.)

3. [no data]

4. Hmm, probably Grovyle from Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. He steals the Time Gears, which is a pretty Bad Idea, but it's all to fix up the future. Plus, he used to be the protagonist's partner back when he/she was a human, so he can't be all that bad. (You can tell I haven't gotten to that part of the story in a long long time.)

I think best villain is Xanatos because he rarely lost. Though at lot of the time it was a technicality of plan G still having a favorable outcome. Except half of the time his schemes weren't that evil despite what happened when they were evil. It's like he would use his powers for good if he had more of a conscience and was only motivated by boredom instead of the will to win.

I'd like to include Turbo as a best example of a villain. He has pure thoughtless greed as his motivation, and uses a variety of ways to be evil. (He seems to have more charisma than Hitler.)

I used to be afraid of Mum-Ra when I was five. The cloners from Star Wars bothered me because they loved making weapons, but they aren't villains. I guess I'll say the Borg because they were just coldly efficient and you couldn't even argue with them; and I don't really watch anything scary.

Jumba from Lilo and Stitch is least effective because he seems like his heart isn't into villainy. He just wants to be known as an evil genius, (and his hobby happens to be illegal and dangerous without mention of if that's why he chose it.) But he got distracted because saving the day was more interesting at the moment.

Wreck-it-Ralph is sympathetic, but he's not a villain because it's his job. It's like hating the garbage man because he stinks. Silver from Treasure Planet has a soft spot and gets sympathy in return even though he did kill. I do like realistically-motivated villains but can't think of the best example. Lurky from Rainbow Brite does it because his mother yelled at him and she never explained what she meant.

I'm disappointed that I couldn't shoehorn a Tony Jay villain like Frollo in here.

I'll try to keep this as spoiler free as possible, even if the properties involved are older.

1. Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2). The thing that impressed me about Jack the most was how well he covered the gamut of villainy over the arc of the game. He starts out as a smug and rather petty jackass, calling you just to brag about how awesome and wealthy and clever he is and how much you suck. He's simultaneously infuriating and hilarious.

BUT THEN the first twist occurs. Turns out Jack is almost exactly as clever as he says he is: he not only manipulated you, he manipulated the main characters of the first game as well. Everything has gone according to his intentions so far. His gloating intensifies, but now the player starts getting a fuller picture of how nasty and sadistic he really is.

BUT THEN the second twist occurs. You see the extent to which he's willing to go to achieve his vision, and it is fairly frightening. You do something that Jack takes EXTREMELY personal. His messages are still humorous, but now the barbs he flings at you are more pointed and cruel. He wants you dead, but at his own hands. He threatens the lives of any who would kill you and thus deprive him of his vengeance.

And then finally, to complete the villainous sweep, he has his final breakdown rant at the end of the game. In his own twisted mind, HE was the hero of this story. So to see you triumphant over him... he just doesn't get it.

HONORABLE MENTION - David Xanatos (Gargoyles)

2. Judge Doom (Who Framed Roger Rabbit). I'll admit: this one is all nostalgia-based. Doom was the one villain I can remember from my childhood that terrified the hell out of me, even before the big reveal at the end. I don't spook as well now, but the last time I saw him still set the hairs on the back of my neck on end. His demeanor and appearance, even the way he moves, almost felt uncanny valley-ish.

HONORABLE MENTION - Hannibal Lector (Silence of the Lambs)

3. Amon (The Legend of Korra). A charismatic and manipulative speaker. A fighter who could outclass any Bender, even the Avatar. A master tactician whose henchmen were superior to the armed forces. Amon was so competent at everything, he became boring. I'm not interested in a villain who can curb-stomp any and all comers until the finale rolls around. I like heroes and villains who are capable of failure. Failure makes them human. Failure makes them relatable.

DISHONORABLE MENTION - Cersei Lannister (the original version of her from A Song of Ice and Fire; the television Game of Thrones version is rather more sympathetic)

4. The Ice King (Adventure Time). He started out as a joke. A pathetic and easily-thwarted dope who kidnapped princesses and didn't really seem all there. But then "Holly Jolly Secrets, Part II" came out, and we discovered WHY he was like that. Suddenly he didn't seem as funny anymore. And it only got worse from there, what with his interactions with Marceline. There's a scene in of the the written comics where the Ice King is trapped in his greatest desire by the Lich. Finn and Jake have to break the illusion by destroying that which he has always wanted. And it is... rough to read.

HONORABLE MENTION - Mr. Freeze (Batman: The Animated Series)

1) don't know about best villain ever, but one of my favorites is the Joker. No matter how crazy and insane he made be, he is the perfect anti-thesis for Batman. And we all know how good Batman is...

2) Don't know about most terrifying, The Queen Of Blades. Besides the scary appearance and utter destruction she causes, the fact that as both a gamer, and as Raynor in game you know exactly who she was before she became the Queen, and the fact that, as the gamer you controlled her on that mission that lead to her becoming what she is (even if you put a solid few lines of bunker's siege tanks and missile turrets the zerg still overwhelm you). And that somewhere beneath all of it is still Sarah Kerrigan. It gives me the shivers.

3) Not quite a standard example, but in Dragon Age Origins: Awakening a side quest reveals that some bandits have kidnapped a nobleman's daughter and he wants you and your group (who are all quite badass by themselves) to get her back. Arrive at the bandit camp (which, is situated on the edge of a cliff. (Note this for later)) and the bandit leader will talk to you. You get a couple of lines back, where you can reveal yourself as the Commander of the Grey (note this means you've killed hundreds of monsters, demons, bandits etc. And an Archdemon that used to be an old god (and is also a dragon)). The next time you get to choose a speech option there's an intimidate option, pick it and half the bandits run away, including one who decides to jump off a cliff instead of facing you. Or you pick the persuade option which means they give you the girl BEFORE you give them the money. Either way much bandit killing ensues. I think they win the prize for stupidest villains if nothing else.

4) N, definitely N. He's been bought up, only being raised around Pokemon who have been badly treated by their trainers and thus wants a world where those kind of Pokemon don't suffer, however due to his father's manipulations he thinks all trainers are like this to their Pokemon. The whole plot line with N in both Black/White and Black 2/White 2 are the best plots in the whole of the Pokemon series IMO and the end scene of Black is the only time in the main series I've ever let out manly tears. (PMD has about one per game for me otherwise)

Now this will naturally be spoiler-y, so here we go.

1) Kerghan the Terrible (Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura)
From a certain point of view Kerghan is not actually a villain.
He's spent his two thousand years in banishment meditating on life and death, along with some practical experiments (he was, after all, the one who discovered the Necromantic Black school of magic) and finally came to the conclusion that the afterlife is preferrable to normal existence.
What makes him a threat is his desire to show everyone by killing everyone and his utter blindness to other views (unless the player happens to possess a Master rank in Persuasion, compare: Fallout.)
So why is he, as I've stated, not necessarily evil?
That is because he is right. His research on the state of the afterlife is correct, two party members (one undead, one resurrected) can confirm this. His work, should he succeed, will also result in the liberation of all undead souls from their host bodies, which is considered quite merciful given the universe's description of the undead (a soul torn from the world of the dead and forced into a body - even an animal carcass - that has just barely been restored to working order.)
It should be noted that the player is given the option of assisting Kerghan in completing his goal. Doing so will, however, render most morally "good" party members hostile and willing to fight to the death.

2) Tough one to decide, but it will have to be SHODAN.
What she has managed to do to all life within her reach borders on Reaper territory - and instead of a collective of who-knows-how-many-thousand species, each consisting of billions of individuals harvested and processed she was just one AI. One computer system turned rogue, managed to get awfully close to godhood, survived two purges (one by cyberjack, the other by bullet) and is still around if the second game's ending is to be believed...although I somehow have little hope to ever see System Shock 3.

3) The Catalyst. It's when Mass Effect stopped making sense. The Reapers were supposedly designed to protect all sentient life from exactly the same kind of phenomenon that they themselves are. It makes very little sense - and making sense should be what advanced AIs ought to excel in.

4) Again, a very tough one. But I sympathise very much with Nightmare Moon.
She is a phenomenon resulting from fear of rejection, which she herself rejected. I assume self-pity factored in, envy certainly did.
She became vindictive, aggressive and potentially delusional. It is likely that she would refuse any help given and any kindness shown as she views the world as hostile.
She was clearly proud of her unwavering loyalty to her own beliefs, incorrect and harmful as they are. After all everyone else abandoned her, so why should she not believe in herself?
Overall she shows flaws that I can relate to, the presence of which I can feel within myself.
Arrogance.
Contempt.
Pride.
Envy.

These are probably not my Ultimate Answers, because there are so many things I know I'm not thinking of, but it's something.

1. My favorite villain is Scorpius from Farscape. He's brilliant, well-spoken, ruthless, and incredibly disciplined—when he looses his cool, you know it's time to run away really, really fast. And that's not just an expression. Being a hybrid of the cold-loving Sebacean race and the heat-generating Scarran race, his own body is constantly at war with itself, and he has to wear a cooling suit with a cooling rod that goes right into his brain to keep from overheating. The fact that he overcomes this physical difficulty with little to no help and manages to work himself up into a position of power in the notoriously xenophobic Peacekeeper military shows you exactly the kind of determined genius you're dealing with when Scorpius is in the picture. He never wastes energy, he is always charming (well, almost always), and he gets things done. He is just awesome.

2. My first thought for this one was Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He's crazy, he puts that poor little cartoon shoe in the Dip (scarred me for life), he looks somehow wrong the whole time and then his whole body melts off and his eyes pop out and HOLY CRAP AHHH. He's classic wet-your-pants scary.

I also thought of the guy from Red Dragon, whose name I can't remember right now. Anybody who murders his family pets is horrifying. Not to mention the many other disturbing things in that book, which I can't even remember because my brain has blocked them out. (That whole book is psychologically disturbing. This is the whole point, though. I recommend it!)

3. Least effective villain I can think of is what's-her-name from Divergence. You know, the blonde Erudite lady who decides her caste is best fit to control the others, being so smart and all, and then gets foiled by a couple of kids who joined the caste famed for being brawny and reckless. Her plan was stupid, her reasons for coming up with it in the first place were stupid, and literally all I can remember about her is thinking how stupid she was.

4. I'm not sure I can properly articulate this one, but all I can think of for most sympathetic villain is the Lone Power from the Young Wizards series. It's tricky because He* is literally the Devil, and every other Being of Ultimate Evil you've ever heard of. He's the guy who invented pain, suffering, and death, and He spends His time tempting newly formed intelligences over to the ways of entropy so as to speed up the end of the Universe. But... He had a good reason? Entropy is why we have time. Death is why we appreciate life. Pain and suffering are what drive us to create, so we can overcome them.

And the thing is, His siblings, the other Powers That Be, They want Him back. The fact that They rejected Him in the first place is half the problem. They didn't like His ideas, so He went rogue and forced them on Creation anyway, so things are really screwed up—but they don't have to be. The PTBs and the One (read: God), who give the wizards their power to fight the Lone One, don't want Him destroyed, They want Him redeemed. And so do I.

* Technically all the Powers That Be are genderless, and usually referred to as It, but that's kinda weird. And so is capitalizing all the pronouns, but oh well.

~Neshomeh

1) Sovereign, from the Mass Effect series. Listen to this. Thar be spoilers beyond that link, so... yeah.

2) Carcer Dun, from Terry Pratchett's Night Watch. There is no redeeming the man: he sees all the rules we make up in our society to keep our darker impulses in check and just decides to not follow them. He is a psychotic mass murderer and the most chilling thing about his character is the fact that he's completely detached from the crimes he's committing; it is said that Carcer can savagely stab a person to death in front of a crowd and behave like a totally innocent person when confronted. What distinguishes him from some other person playing dumb is that Carcer sees his actions as just being "naughty". He has no restraints. He has no morals. He is the embodiment of chaotic evil. Carcer provokes a visceral reaction of disgust from the reader, even if it's the zillionth time you read the book.

You will love to hate him.

3) King Sombra from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Let's face it: he was a laughing shadow for most of the episode. Not exactly threat material if you ask me.

4) Bowser, from Super Mario Bros. I mean, sure he kidnaps the princess every now and then, but he plays sports and go-carts with you on his days off. He even loans out his castle as a race track. Unfortunately, whenever things seem to go well for him, bad things (read: hilarious antics) start happening to the Koopa King. All in all, he's a pretty cool dude if you ask me.

1: Definitely Arvis, of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Well, actually it's probably Manfroy, the guy behind Arvis's plots, but Arvis actually kills the protagonist. And brainwashes and marries said protagonist's wife. Who happens to be Arvis's sister. Arvis then presides over a regime that kidnaps children and forces them to fight to the death; the survivors become 'aristocracy' under the thumb of the Loptyr sect. Mind, Arvis's son Julius is even worse, due to being the physical body of the evil god Loptyr; this guy kills his mother while trying to kill his sister.
2: Most terrifying? Not entirely sure, but all the people on my shortlist are Hero Killers. There's Findo Gask, from the Word and the Void series, who is ruthless with his followers and tenacious as anything, not to mention clever. And Badrang the Tyrant, of Redwall (the series, not the book); bastard killed Martin's girlfriend Rose and had Martin the Warrior himself captive. Then there's Lysandre, from Pokémon X and Y, who literally attempts genocide to make the world 'beautiful'.
3: I don't know whether they count as a villain, but Doctor Who's Weeping Angels in everything but Blink are just... not scary at all. Which is a shame, really.
4: Easy: N Harmonia, of Pokémon Black and White. He's not even really a villain, just an antagonist. He basically intends to conquer the region with a legendary Pokémon in order to command people to release their Pokémon, because he believes all people treat Pokémon as slaves. He gradually comes to realise that there are other people who treat Pokémon with respect and love, and is on the verge of stepping down when his father, the Complete Monster Ghetsis, comes along and reveals that he'd been manipulating N from birth, only showing him Pokémon who had been abandoned by horrible people. Ghetsis's plan was to have N order everyone to release their Pokémon, then dispose of him and rule the region by being the only one who still had Pokémon.
Others include Fëanor (he's nowhere near heroic, but he was mad with grief, so understandable), Lyon of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (who loses his father and receives a prophecy that his country will be ravaged by an earthquake, and accidentally becomes possessed by an ancient demon king while trying to reverse the former and avert the latter. Oh, and he's in love with the heroine but can't compete with her brother for her love) and Ontic Laison (to a lesser extent; she killed Imbolc Telyan, which makes me hate her, but she did go through some pretty bad stuff).
Gee, sympathetic villains are just crawling out of the woodwork. I could go on, but that's enough, I think.

1) Whatever overlord put together the list if 'Things I must not do if I am an evil overlord' list. Wait, that doesn't count? Hmm... If I ever find a villain who does the sensible things and kill the hero immediately instead of sentencing him to a slow death by a watery pit of hungry crocodiles armed with lasers and then stand there and laugh, saying 'Escape is impossible!', then that's the one I vote for.

2) Fenrir Greyback from Harry Potter. Not only is he a sick cannibal whose favorite targets are children, but he also gives this 'I'm going to rape you' vibe. I still sometimes have nightmares about him.

3) The Grunts from any Pokemon villain team. Usually when the player storms the team's secret headquarters, the Grunts will randomly tell you important information after you beat them and are sometimes insanely stupid. Best example would have to be in X/Y when you're about to clear out the Kalos power plant and need a key to get in. The Grunt blocking the way says something like "Oh no! I've dropped the key! I think I last had it when I was standing nine steps east of where I am now! Maybe if I used the Dowsing Machine, I could find it!"

4) Megamind. He tried so hard to be bad, but he was kind of... bad at that. I want to give him a hug. :)

1) Syndrome (The Incredibles)- even if he didn't read the Evil Overlord List, he's still pretty darn good at it. He builds a nigh unbeatable robot by testing it on superheroes, and threatens to steal Mr Incredible's son out of pure bitterness and hatred.

2) I can't honestly think of anybody at the moment. But the traits I look for in a scary villain is not necessarily being stronger than the hero. It's the unpredictability and single-minded devotion to a cause. Also, superior strategy. Nothing is worse than a villain with a Batman Gambit.

3) Starfinger (Legion of Superheroes TV series)- seriously? The man is completely incompetent. His powers would actually be useful if he utilized them properly, but… The dude's a weirdo with a really bad accent.

4) Megamind (Megamind)- Watch the movie. The whole plot is how he's actually a sympathetic bad guy who realizes that he doesn't want the role that the rest of the world has put him in. Do watch the movie. It's hilarious.