Science Fiction Double Feature: A Troupe By Any Other Name Celebrates Halloween With Rocky Horror Picture Show Screening
Nim de Cagny, Multiverse Monitor, Stand-In-Critic for Stan Grayson Because His Old-Man Sensibilities Were Offended By This Show
5/5 stars
dir. Kate Lynn
October 31 at 9PM, 18+ only
A Troupe By Any Other Name temporarily departed from the Bard and took some time off their rehearsals for As You Like It by screening The Rocky Horror Picture Show with shadow actors on Halloween night.
A cult classic from World One, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 comedy horror musical film chronicling the adventures of a couple, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss (played in the shadow cast by DIC Agents the Agent and the Disentangler, respectively), who stray into a castle owned by extraterrestrial scientist Dr Frank-N-Furter (played, to no one’s surprise, by ESAS Agent Jacques Bonnefoy). Hijinks following a very thin line of plot ensue, mostly of the scantily-clad and crossdressing variety. The main event in the show is the creation of Rocky, a muscular blond pretty-boy (played, with some application of the disguise generator, by DOGA Agent T’Zar). Other characters include the semi-incestuous servant siblings Riff-Raff and Magenta (played by SIELU Agents Naergondir and Gurnirel, who were the only actors to be completely disguised in this show), bad-boy biker Eddie (played by DIC Agent Edgar Sullivan) and his uncle Dr Scott, tap-dancing Eddie fangirl Columbia (played by DO Agent Nerys Carpenter), and a neckless criminologist (played by none other than DF Agent the Notary).
Aside from some of the surprising shadow cast members, the show was a continuous ride of glorious illogic. The shadow actors only followed what the actors in the film were doing, lip-synching their lines and mimicking their actions. Despite having two sets of action to keep track of, the off-screen performance was widely acknowledged by the audience to be just as (if not even more) entertaining than the on-screen performance. The crowd went wild during the number “Touch-a Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me”, when the Disentangler danced extremely suggestively at T’Zar (and sometimes on T’Zar). Another wonderful moment was the burlesque floor show, where Carpenter, T’Zar, the Agent, and the Disentangler danced in corsets, fishnets, and feathered boas.
One of the hallmarks of Rocky Horror screenings and performances in World One is, of course, the audience participation. And with the PPC being what it is, well, of course the audience participation was phenomenal. People blew noisemakers and wore party hats; they did the Time Warp during the “Time Warp” number (and continued doing it at random intervals afterwards); they shouted things at the stage and screen in classic MST style. Some of the more dedicated agents dressed as the characters as well, and swarmed the stage with the actors for the encore of “Superheroes” after the credits.
All in all this was an enjoyable show, and if the Troupe does intend on making it an annual event, I highly recommend this show for those who are curious, those who can’t pass up an opportunity to MST something, and those who enjoy World One comedy horror musicals.
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Comments
Marcel Chevalier, DBS — 1 November 2014
...wasn’t there supposed to be a Klingon in this? I feel cheated. People shouldn’t say they’ll have a Klingon and then not have a Klingon. That’s just bad advertising.
Elysa Webber, DO — 1 November 2014
I think the Klingon was just a rumor, sweetheart. I mean, seriously did you see a Klingon in this mess?
Benoit Fortier, DF — 1 November 2014
Mess? It wasn’t a mess! It was...okay, it was a mess, because of all the food, but it was awesome!
Anyway, it’s not like you paid to not see a Klingon...
Christianne Shieh, DMS — 1 November 2014
Wow, sudden flashbacks to college showings of Rocky Horror! Though I think the audience participation at the PPC will always trump that of any college showing. It’s the audience that makes the film an experience instead of a film. 10/10 would Time Warp again.
Dawn McKenna, DMS — 1 November 2014
I didn’t actually know about the audience participation until tonight, when it started and people were yelling things. And throwing things. I’m still a bit curious about why, but it was definitely fun! Nothing at all like my first viewing. Definitely all for Time Warping again, too...
Christianne Shieh, DMS — 2 November 2014
Let me tell you, Rocky Horror is always better when seen with a group. When I lost my Rocky Horror virginity (that means going to see a public showing of it, get your mind out of the gutter by at least two inches, I beg you) they put a ‘V’ on my hand in lipstick and gave me a suggestively-frosted cupcake. I hope the Troupe continues doing this, it’s a glorious thing that must be shared with everyone of age at HQ.
Seriously, though, Dawn, did you live somewhere without a cool theatre club or something that did RHPS once in a while? That town is in desperate need of enlightenment.
Eledhwen Elerossiel, DMS — 2 November 2014
Chrissy, I hardly consider this to be ‘enlightenment’.
Christianne Shieh, DMS — 2 November 2014
You also weren’t sure what to do with the noisemaker during the Time Warp scene. Nyeh.
Dawn McKenna, DMS — 2 November 2014
...I lived in the PPC? I’ve been here since I was fourteen, where exactly do you think I’d have managed to find a showing? I just watched it in my RC.
Christianne Shieh, DMS — 2 November 2014
-loud sigh-
Eledhwen Elerossiel, DMS — 2 November 2014
She means sorry, Dawn.
Dawn McKenna, DMS — 2 November 2014
She can take it up with the Troupe, if it bothers her that much. But thanks for the apology.
Luxury, DBS — 2 November 2014
What? So mad I missed the auditions for this one! >:(((((
Jacques Bonnefoy, ESAS — 2 November 2014
So were we, believe me. You would have been great. Maybe next year?
Luxury, DBS — 3 November 2014
You betcha! ;)))) I’ll be Frank next year. ;*
Jacques Bonnefoy, ESAS — 3 November 2014
Oh? You’re going to take that role from me?
Well, I guess I could always be Rocky… ;)
Luxury, DBS — 3 November 2014
Wanna be Rocky to my Frank right now? ;))))
Jacques Bonnefoy, ESAS — 3 November 2014
In just seven days (and six whole nights), I’m gonna make you [The rest of this comment has been censored due to inappropriate language. We are sorry about the inconvenience. -MM]
Maura Scott, DoSAT — 3 November 2014
If this is science fiction, I’d hate to see a similar take on historical fiction...who am I kidding, I’d love that. Bring it on!
Agen_t, DIC — 3 November 2014
I don’t think this is something I enjoy. Monty Python is better.
Jacques Bonnefoy, ESAS — 3 November 2014
Blasphemy!
Edgar Sullivan, DIC — 3 November 2014
Agreed. Shall we denounce zir as a witch, then?
Jacques Bonnefoy, ESAS — 3 November 2014
Oh, definitely. Remind me how that scene starts?
Agent, DIC — 3 November 2014
/facepalms/
Edgar Sullivan, DIC — 3 November 2014
...maybe I’ll denounce zir on my own.
Nice use of facepalming, by the way, Agent.
Agen_t, DIC — 3 November 2014
Thank you. I think.
Fearn, DTO — 4 November 2014
WERE I NOT A DALEK I WOULD FIND IT DISTRESSING THAT THE ONLY DALEK CAST MEMBER HAS NOT BEEN MENTIONED! AGENT OMICRON PROVED A FINE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DALEK RACE IN THE ROLE OF DOCTOR SCOTT! THE SONG OF “EDDIE’S TEDDY” WAS PERFORMED MASTERFULLY! THE PERFORMANCE WAS ALSO A FINE REPRESENTATION OF THE LONG-EXISTING TENSIONS BETWEEN DALEKS AND TIME LORDS!
The Reader, DIC — 4 November 2014
It actually felt a lot like I was watching a Gallifreyan soap opera, what with all the Time Lords. I mean, we had Dis and the Agent as the young couple, an actual Dalek playing Dr. Scott, and the Notary as narrator/criminologist. It was perfect. I don’t think I can picture this being narrated by anyone but a neckless bureaucrat now. Well done, all.
The Notary, DF — 4 November 2014
How many times do I have tell you cretins that it’s a collar, for Rassilon’s sake?
The Reader, DIC — 4 November 2014
Oh, here we go. Rassilon this, Rassilon that—it’s always about our former Lord President with you, isn’t it? Let me tell you, if you ever get him to pay PPC HQ a visit, I’ll never fill out another form for you ever again. And that’s only the beginning...
Fearn, DTO — 4 November 2014
THE TIME LORDS ARE TRULY WEAK! YOU CLAIM TO RULE THE UNIVERSE AND YET YOU CAN BE DEFEATED BY A LACK OF PAPERWORK!
Kozar, DIC — 5 November 2014
I was impressed by Agent T’Zar’s acting. Vulcans are not known for a love of physicality. I highly commend her performance.
Jean DuVallon, DIC — 5 November 2014
Y’know, speaking of that scene, I could definitely go for some of that dancing from Dis. I’d be really happy to play Rocky in that scene. (Wonder what rehearsals were like… ;))
The Agent, DIC — 5 November 2014
No.
Edgar Sullivan, DIC — 5 November 2014
Honestly, I’m ashamed to have you in my department. Go think about good and appropriate ways to talk for a bit, would you?
The Disentangler, DIC — 5 November 2014
Two things, Jean: 1) I’m old enough to be your great-great-great-great-great grandmother, and 2) the rehearsals were actually really boring. So there. ;)
Brenda Loringham, DMS — 6 November 2014
Boring? How?
The Disentangler, DIC — 6 November 2014
Didn’t you guys notice how much we didn’t touch, despite the lyrics? All those Vulcan sensibilities and whatnot. If Jacques is going to do what he’s threatening to do up there in the earlier comments and play Rocky next year, you might get even more scandalous choreography. I’m not going to be Janet next year, if that’s the case.
Edgar Sullivan, DIC — 6 November 2014
...so, what you’re saying is that it should have been retitled “Touch-a Touch-a Touch-a Don’t Touch Me” for this performance? We must have missed out on so many great call-backs.
The Disentangler, DIC — 6 November 2014
Yeah, why didn’t you guys use that? It’s perfect. Almost as perfect as all the neck jokes and everyone yelling “Sue” at Janet.
The Agent, DIC — 6 November 2014
I nearly broke character when someone shouted “but Daleks can’t do the Can-Can” during the floor show. You guys were hilarious.
Christianne Shieh, DMS — 6 November 2014
My favourite callbacks were “that explains Edward Cullen” during “Sweet Transvestite” and “is your collar compensating for your lack of a neck” when the Notary/Criminologist held up a sign saying that it was a collar during the Time Warp scene!
Nerys Carpenter, DO — 6 November 2014
My favorite was “borrow Jack’s wriststrap” for every time Brad asked to use Frank’s telephone.
The Notary, DF — 6 November 2014
Mine was “beam me up, there’s no intelligent life down here” when Brad called Dr Scott “Scotty”, because I completely agree with it.
The Reader, DIC — 6 November 2014
You would. And I liked “this better be good, we killed you last week”. It was very appropriate, since so many Assassins were in attendance.
Jacques Bonnefoy, ESAS — 6 November 2014
My favourite callback, in case anyone cared to know, was “hey Riffy, show us Laurel” when Riff-Raff opened the coffin during “Time Warp”. Though all of the classic callbacks were also great.
Christianne Shieh, DMS — 7 November 2014
Oh and before I forget, all the “elbow sex” comments too! I mean, they’re an RHPS classic, but they’re especially funny given the context of this performance.
Eledhwen Elerossiel, DMS — 7 November 2014
I think the Calaquendi agents were actually shocked when they first heard those comments.
Christianne Shieh, DMS — 7 November 2014
It’s nice to see them let loose and not be so David Beckham and Posh Spice all the time. Though I’m disappointed that they didn’t use their real hair in the performance.
Eledhwen Elerossiel, DMS — 7 November 2014
I assure you that Naergondir would rather face Melkor’s armies alone than shave his head to play Riff-Raff. It is fact.
Gerda Kent, DOI — 8 November 2014
What’s riff-raff? and Why are you talking about David and heads shaving and elbow sex? I could’nt go because Marsha at the nursury said I’m too young and I was tired from trick or treating anyway.
Dawn McKenna, DMS — 8 November 2014
...please tell me that’s a joke. And if it’s not, please tell me you’re the only kid doing this.
Luxury, DBS — 8 November 2014
I’ll tell you all about it when you’re older, Bradley ;)))
Gerda Kent, DOI — 8 November 2014
okay!!!
Gerda Kent, DOI — 9 November 2014
No, you won’t. - Bradley’s mother
Luxury, DBS — 9 November 2014
I’m going to tell him.
Gerda Kent, DOI — 9 November 2014
Don’t you dare! - Bradley’s mother
—
This was a joint writeup between me and DawnFire, thank you so much for helping and contributing! Also a quick apology to Wobbles for nabbing the Notary for a couple comments without permission; the opportunity presented itself and we are very sorry and will now return her in a hopefully recognisable form (plus another ostentatious collar).
Also posted here.
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And Now For Something Completely Different: by
on 2014-11-11 15:43:00 UTC
Link to this
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*laughter and applause* by
on 2014-11-13 12:41:00 UTC
Link to this
I got a kick out of this, even if I haven't seen Rocky Horror yet.
Yes I'm seventeen and haven't seen it yet don't judge me
I can't wait to see what you come up with next! -
However, a thing I'd noticed and thought I should address. by
on 2014-11-12 12:23:00 UTC
Link to this
My jesting in the previous reply aside, and I don't mean this in a rude or confrontational way at all, but when involving characters of mine in things like this in future I would prefer to at least be asked about it before people go charging full steam ahead? For instance, making up Brad's mother out of whole cloth - I've been trying to find space in my writing to do stuff with that family, and while I've admittedly finished diddly-squat in nearly four years a) I'm making an earnest attempt to fix that, and b) it still would've been nice to check.
Sorry if this is coming off a little blunter than I intended, this early in the morning my filter isn't at its best, but I thought I should bring it up. -
Oh, wait, you were actually using that family? by
on 2014-11-12 15:31:00 UTC
Link to this
Because I thought they were just some random folks whose kid just happened to write to the MM at the tender age of six, and that there wasn't some greater story planned for it.
Wow, I'm sorry about that. Will keep this in mind next time.
Also, i t was hard enough to coordinate me and Dawn for this given our homework workloads, so we didn't really consider adding a third writer to these series of reviews. But if you want to get involved with reviewing As You Like It, then by all means come talk with us on gmail. (It's also possible that there could be two critics for the MM because all this troupe does for the most part is Shakespeare, and as KittyEden pointed out there could be two theater groups and the other handles more contemporary stuff. In that case two critics specializing in two different types of theatre -- classical versus contemporary -- could be needed.) -
I was starting to feel a bit excluded. :P by
on 2014-11-12 15:46:00 UTC
Link to this
But yeah, I've actually had Brad Kent and his dad show up in a thing I've written and I'd been considering doing things with those characters on and off, which I probably should've made more clear when we did the Monitor episode but for some reason I assumed y'all just sorta knew because nobody asked. In this specific case it's not a huge deal but I wanted it out there for future reference.
I do sorta like the idea of splitting up the reviews, but I'd also imagined Stan as sort of the main critic - only thing being of course he likes what he likes and is pretty vocal about what he doesn't, and there didn't seem to be a huge amount going on for him to review other than theatre. But lots of places split up critic teams like that. I'll hit you up on gmail. -
Sorry about that. :P by
on 2014-11-12 19:26:00 UTC
Link to this
I'll take note of that, sorry about the confusion.
And yeah, I imagine that he'd do most of the critiquing around here, but maybe he tends to review more contemporary theatre pieces like the Glorious Revolution or other things that (taking Kitty's suggestion) Acting Out has done? I can definitely see a sort of theatre group semi-rivalry (with occasional borrowing and lending of tech and actors and the constant scramble for rehearsal spaces) with A Troupe By Any Other Name.
I mean, it seems weird since Stan is the resident old codger who'd probably really love Shakespeare, but maybe he doesn't like the fact that the Troupe insists on setting Shakespeare in weird locations like Gallifrey and the Vulcan satellite planet (or tidally-locked planet, whatever) T'Khut.
(Actually that might be an interesting setting for a tragedy like Othello, a Vulcan scientific base on T'Khut with a very inhospitable exterior which doesn't allow for escape. Wow. Will have to think this through a bit more.) -
I think being part of the PPC would force open-mindedness. by
on 2014-11-12 22:55:00 UTC
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It's hard to be all that inflexible when you work somewhere that draws people in from all of creation after all. But I'll talk more of that in email, since I sent it to you like you asked.
(I do like the idea of multiple theatre groups and rivalries and such though. Makes the PPC feel a little more alive - and I admit I'd felt a bit hard up for things for Stan to review.) -
Ha! by
on 2014-11-13 09:49:00 UTC
Link to this
Maybe if I ever get around to getting Permission, Agent!Kitty could start a group amongst the younger end. I'm sure she'd be insanely thrilled to do it. And I do mean, 'insanely'.
The first thing she'd do is attempt to get everyone remaking Pitch Perfect and then start getting annoyed when she realized that absolutely no one in the PPC can sing a cappella.
And then she'd do Wicked.
Speaking of which, you should totally do Wicked next! Think of everything that ATBAON could get up to! -
The Troupe is a Shakespeare one, sorry. by
on 2014-11-15 06:02:00 UTC
Link to this
Which means that the rival group would probably do more contemporary theatre, and probably musicals too.
However, I would probably die of laughter if the Troupe and Acting Out collaborated for Romeo et Juliette or West Side Story -- and split themselves up into Montague and Capulet camps almost immediately. (I'm more partial to the idea of them doing Romeo et Juliette because it is a lovely adaptation of the original play with some really gorgeous songs and also a COLOUR SCHEME and Mercutio being a cutie patootie who mostly hangs with the Montague boys and oh the Hungarian version is a dystopian AU version and it is gorgeous). -
What, drawn and talk of peace? by
on 2014-11-15 12:58:00 UTC
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I hate the word, as I hate Sues, all Bad Slashers and thee. Have at thee, coward!
(Sorry, couldn't resist.) -
You know what? by
on 2014-11-15 08:46:00 UTC
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As soon as I get Permission, I may well start up Acting Out.
The Romeo and Juliet would be brilliant, especially if the two people playing Romeo and Juliet were, like, dating or married out of play.
There would be a very complex underplot there. -
I sometimes wish I'd be invited to these. :P by
on 2014-11-12 12:19:00 UTC
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Part because this is fun stuff, part because it's my critic standin who keeps getting replaced. ;) I like these little jot ups though, and as much as I've not exactly been carrying my weight I like the feel the current Monitor crew gives to the setting.
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It's this type of thing... by
on 2014-11-12 09:49:00 UTC
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...that makes me wish that the PPC HQ existed in World One so we could all get together and do this sort of thing every week. Sometimes when I read these, I pretend I was actually there. I love acting! Wish I was a part of A Troupe By Any Other Name.
Sudden idea! Someone could write a rival theatre group called 'Acting Out'.
...what? A bit of healthy rivalry never killed anyone. Well, okay, occasionally it did, but that isn't ever mentioned in my school anymore.
Another wild idea. If I ever get the time to come to a Gathering (and you could even do it without me. But I'd never forgive you) we could write the script for a PPC-themed musical/play in advance, and film it on location.
I'm insane, aren't I? (Checks calendar) Yup, it's my Insanity Day.
If this makes any sense to you, you may nod along. If not, ignore me.
~Kitty -
Nice. by
on 2014-11-12 08:54:00 UTC
Link to this
I was going to feel sad that Morgan wasn't included this time, until she pointed out that she was considering auditioning - right up until she saw the Disentangler's dancing. At which point she retired for a night of heavy drinking.
Anyway, fun! I've actually seen Rocky Horror, though only in the same way that Agent Dawn has, so the visuals are right there in my head. The Notary, in particular, has me smirking; I don't know how Wobbles would feel about the fact that the Archetypical Bureaucrat has a (not-so) hidden thespian side, but it amuses me no end.
hS -
Y'know... by
on 2014-11-12 00:30:00 UTC
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...I thought I recognized the French names.
Now, I've never actually seen the movie aside from some choice musical snippets on YouTube, but I'm going to join everyone else here and say that this was a hilarious read and that the fake comments section made it even better. Especially the young kid's addition. How did he end up there anyways? -
Bingo! by
on 2014-11-12 05:51:00 UTC
Link to this
I have no idea how he did it, but since he managed to get a letter to the editor last year, he seems to be accidentally getting into the tech all the time. DoSAT might have a new recruit in about... five to ten years.
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Re: And Now For Something Completely Different: by
on 2014-11-11 23:46:00 UTC
Link to this
I haven't seen the movie IRL, but this is pretty hilarious. I... don't actually recognize any names in here besides Luxury and your agents, though... Well, you do a good job of getting their voices and characters across anyways.
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It's kinda surprising by
on 2014-11-12 05:50:00 UTC
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...that so many PPCers have never heard of Rocky Horror. It's one of the most well-known events where publicly MSTing a film/theatre show is encouraged. Wellesley puts on a screening every year, which inspired this writeup.
The other names were mostly taken from the Multiverse Monitor, as SeaTurtle notes above. But thanks! -
re: article by
on 2014-11-11 22:46:00 UTC
Link to this
I don't know the musical, so I'm sure I'm missing jokes in that part, but I absolutely love the comments field! I don't recognize/remember all the PPC characters, but the interactions are still great. I like the Dalek's all-caps typing, and the fact that he (it?) gets ignored by the Time Lords as a group. Also, I almost feel legitimately bad that Luxury missed out. She's free-to-use; she's supposed to get a free pass to everything!
I also like the implication that Marsha is working in the Nursery now, although I thought Laburnum was planning for her to become a DBS agent? (Unless this is a different Marsha, in which case: hurr durr, sorry.) -
Marsha was Trojie's. (nm) by
on 2014-11-11 23:31:00 UTC
Link to this
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Woops. (nm) by
on 2014-11-12 00:14:00 UTC
Link to this
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Well whatever the case happened to Marsha, by
on 2014-11-11 23:01:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm sure she'd help out the place that took care of her, so it's possible that she'd have been visiting around the time.
I mean it was meant to be the same Marsha but not necessarily working at the Nursery, just happened to be there long enough for a convo with Bradley. -
*laughter and applause* by
on 2014-11-11 20:30:00 UTC
Link to this
Still don't wanna see the movie IRL, though. Jacques Bonnefoy is the human!France-clone, right?
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It's not everyone's cup of tea, I know. by
on 2014-11-11 20:51:00 UTC
Link to this
He's actually a Jack Harkness character replacement from an unfinished mission between Dawn, Outhra, and me, but Dawn and I liked him too much to keep him out of all the fun.
(Yeah instead of foisting eternal punishment on the guy because Jack Harkness is immortal and stuff, we decided to recruit him.)
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Double-Feature, Adoptable, New Agents, and Taking Requests by
on 2014-11-12 02:26:00 UTC
Link to this
Hey all,
While I was waiting for things to work out for my collab partners, I decided to work on a new mission. This is technically the fifth mission in chronological order, but it's the third one I've worked on solo.
Scarlet Disgrace
I'm pleased to report that my Floaters have recruited a new agent who is open for adoption - a vampiric Replacement of Robin! Notable characteristics of this adoptable are as follows:
- Derived from Robin from the Teen Titans animated series, but was turned into a vampire.
- Three years older than the canonical Robin, likely taller and more well-built.
- Pale skin and long black hair; left eye is missing, right eye is red.
- Has vampire fangs and drinks blood; can use limited shadow manipulation.
- Originally stated to die when exposed to sunlight, but this can be modified (he was sent to Medical upon being recruited to treat this effect).
- Can be dressed in any outfit his new owner wishes, but prefers to dress in black and similar to a DC superhero.
- Owns a black cat and former CAF named Sparda, with prominent fangs, like this.
If anyone who has an interest and knowledge in the DC Comics continuum is interested in adopting this character, feel free to send an adoption request to my e-mail (skarmorysilver@gmail.com)!
And in the meantime, I've started up a new RC as well! I wanted to test out the idea I posted on the Board a while ago (before Des derailed the thread, which he had every right to do; my sympathies go out to him once again). The idea here is that an agent accidentally sends a Sue-Wraith into the PPC HQ and ends up being partnered with her as a punishment; the Sue, meanwhile, is bound by canon and forced into work as an agent herself. So, without further ado:
When Good Banishments Go Bad
Agent bios for RC #133,316,666
Now that their intro is out of the way, I've decided to open up requests for Suefics that this agent pair can take care of. At least 5 chapters, rated T or lower, and please explain why the Sue should be killed. I've decided to take a thread from Huinesoron and have the requests be filled out via an Intelligence Report, so please find the template for that below.
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Fic: [Title & link]
Continuum: [Continuum/-a]
Description: [Your summary]
Targeted Sue/Sue-Wraith: [include the name, or the characters the Sue-Wraith is possessing]
Plot Holes: [Brief description of the biggest holes in the plot]
Characterization Errors: [Brief description of the biggest flaws in the characterization of affected canonical characters]
Offenses Against Canon: [Brief description of the biggest breaks from canon]
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Thanks for your time, and here's to a profitable career of Sue-slaying! :)
-SS -
On "Good Banishments" and New Agents by
on 2014-11-13 19:14:00 UTC
Link to this
NOTE: Everything I am about to say is not meant with any vitriol or mean-spiritedness. I am merely responding as honestly as possible. Sometimes I can be a bit blunt in my expression. If I offend in any way, I apologize. It is not intentional on my part.
Like hS, I think this is going to have to be split between the mission and the stuff with your new agents. I’m going to start with the new agents stuff first because it’s a bit shorter, plus because I honestly need a bit of breather to clear my head after reading your fic.
Let’s start off with the story itself. First off, I feel that the scene with Harry and E.V.L.!Cho could have been a lot more dramatic if the audience wasn’t immediately tipped off to this being not the real Cho. Had she kept the facade up for a bit longer before going into the evil gloating, it might have held a bit more shock. Also, the contents of the paragraph that begins “As she opened the door to the hospital wing” are pretty much repeated beat for beat in her following dialogue with Harry; trading her soul, convincing Mad-Eye, and so forth.
Why does Rayner use the Patronus charm instead of a Binding spell? I guess that might have to do with the “aggression ahead of tactics” thing that the original Rainbow Dash had, but I still have to ask.
How does Rayner survive fighting an unkillable Mary Sue demon hand-to-hand for three solid minutes? Three minutes is a long time in physical combat, especially when your opponent is essentially Satan. No PPC agent survives that.
Minor SPaG note: it’s “Ukrainian Ironbelly,” not “Ukranian Ironbelly.”
Overall, it’s not great. Too much of this doesn’t make sense. In addition to all the questions I had above: If E.V.L. is so dangerous, why was Rayner alone? She sounds like the kind of Sue that should have been tackled by multiple groups and not a single person. Also, why do the Flowers capture the wraith instead of destroying or incapacitating it (I’ll touch on that again later)?
As for Rayner and E.V.L. themselves… they’re not good characters. Not at all.
Both of them are tremendously overpowered. First, we have a supersonic speedster who can become a blood-fueled berzerker apparently capable of “destroying everything and everyone between him and his perceived prey.” While that might be interpreted as a weakness, it’s not something that’s going to make me fear for Rayner’s safety. It makes me fear for those around him. Somebody that potentially dangerous to everyone around him… why would he even be recruited?
Rayner is also boring to me because he is, as you say, a male version of Rainbow Dash. It feels uninspired, like you just swapped out a few tertiary details but kept all the major personality bits from the original canonical character. The only major things that feel different are his gender, his being human, his desire for vengeance, and the berzerker powers. I don’t mind if a character is a badfic rescuee, but I want to see original characterization and not an canonical wearing a new suit.
E.V.L… that seems pretty self-explanatory. She’s literally an unkillable Mary Sue demon. Even discounting that the PPC would not recruit an obvious Mary Sue spirit (‘cause, you know, the job and all), unkillable is not interesting. If a character is not imperiled by their task in some way, then there’s no point to the story. Performing the duty is like brushing one’s teeth; not even menial enough to be potentially humorous in a vaguely bureaucratic way.
Also, I’m going to have to agree with what hS said below. The PPC potentially has access to every piece of canonical magic and technology ever made. The PPC has destroyed Sues with the power of gods before this point. There are lots of continuums that have rules for permanently destroying demons. The PPC would find a way to kill (or eternally imprison) her. If all else fails, there are the Reality Rooms.
These characters also, to my mind, don’t fit the PPC universe. Rayner seems to be, when you boil him down, a grim berzerker. Grim characters only really work in the PPC as it stands when their attitude is played for laughs. They become snarky straight men – see Derik for an example, or even Supernumerary and Xericka to some extent.
E.V.L. is completely out of place, and not just because she’s a Sue. I was very dismayed to see “sadism” and “serial killer” being used to describe her. PPC agents are not torturers. PPC agents do not kill for fun or for sport. Psychopathic agents are not fun to read.
One final minor point: why is E.V.L. from the Bible? The PPC doesn’t do Bible missions of any stripe. There are too many worms in that particular can.
I'd very much like to know your answers to the following questions: why did you create these characters? What sort of missions do you see them tackling as agents? How do they fit into the PPC as a whole?
Thank you for your time.
PC -
On nerfing my DMS agents by
on 2014-11-13 20:52:00 UTC
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I am not offended, don't worry, but I am *very* concerned for my agents now that these issues have been brought up, and if the execution didn't fly with you, then I offer my apologies for it. The general idea I was thinking of here was that the Sue would be accidentally life-bound to Rayner - the very reason she cannot be killed off is because Rayner would have to be killed as well, and I don't know if the DMS can afford to lose an agent. The long list of abilities I did for both of my agents may have been a habit stemming from my own fiction doing similar things - the power levels of just about everyone are that overboard because they need to be. I doubt this is the case in the PPC, so I'll probably brainstorm remedies for this for each of my agents.
Looking back, Rayner being OP was due to giving him all of the characteristics of Rainbow Dash by default, something most MLP humanizations don't do (even Equestria Girls avoided this until the climax). If it's better that he doesn't have any superhuman abilities to begin with, which I'm sure it is for this context, then I can live with it. That being said, the frenzy mode is one of the things that made him unique in the first place, and I'll probably keep it for the sake of drama, but if it endangers other people then I may have to at least change it. What if instead, the frenzy mode primarily endangers himself, Leeroy Jenkins style? He could end up charging into situations he can't win, underestimate what the targeted Sue is capable of, and get himself hurt. A lot. Like Eren's Titan form, it would be interesting to explore the frenzy mode and its consequences as a plot device, with his partner constantly trying to keep his instincts from ruining the mission. Maybe there could even be a mission with an unforseen setback in that the very setting triggers the frenzy mode, and Rayner's partner will have to keep him restrained and finish the mission herself at the same time.
While Rayner is a badfic rescuee, techincally speaking, it's also true that he could use some characteristics to distinguish him from the canon he is based off of. To pull ideas out of the air, he's been through a lot of nasty stuff, so one thing I could think of is that he was severely broken by his past and PPC experiences. To this end, an Eren Yager-like "I must kill ALL OF THE SUES" mentality would be a good start - a Suvian character did kill his last partner, after all.
Regarding E.V.L., I initially thought that being unkillable was the reason she was recruited in the first place. But again, it wouldn't make for an interesting story, because she's supposed to be at risk too most of the time. As noted, the life-binding idea is one that I'd like to explore in the missions proper, especially since it would help me experiment with a hero/villain team-up like I intended. However, if she can't be killed, it wouldn't make a good story, while if she is killed straight away, I can't explore her character. Hmmmm... How about I make it a two-way connection? The life binding could mean that if either Rayner or E.V.L. dies, the other dies as well. So not only would this give the Flowers a reason not to just dispose of her (because it would mean having to also get rid of one of their own agents), but Rayner would also have a reason to protect her himself.
E.V.L.'s inclusion in the PPC was a means of exploring how an openly antagonistic character would react and adjust to being forced to fight on the side of good, or in this case how a bona fide Mary Sue (not an ex-Suvian like Anjilly's Joyce Reesin, but an actual Sue) would feel about killing stuff on par with the very material that created her in the first place. The fact that she's bound by canon will probably prevent her from using much of her powers at all, which would also force her to make do without being OP (and this goes doubly for disguises, which would prevent her from using her powers at all), so I could have her lament that she can't use her Suvian abilities only to be shot down by Rayner telling her that it was for her own good.
So overall, E.V.L. would probably be the of "Broken Bird" stereotype, since while the snarky straight man approach was proposed for Rayner, I think it fits better with her instead, as I see Rayner as being the more eager and passionate of the two when it comes to assassination. I also apologize for not realizing that sadistic Sue torturing is not something the PPC would approve of, so I'm getting rid of her sadism entirely.
Rayner's Patronus charm is consistent with his aggressive tactics, and is also based on Sandra and Freckles's exorcism selection and the Bella Black Driftwood mission, since this does take place in the Harry Potter continuum. I will probably also have to retcon the prologue so it would make more sense in light of all of the above information - Rayner would probably have a harder time fighting E.V.L. straight on, and given the above information, he'd probably get Worf'd in ten seconds flat. XD -
Some follow-ups. by
on 2014-11-14 12:49:00 UTC
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The revised frenzy mode, as you describe it, sounds less like a berserker state and more like just how early-series Rainbow Dash actually is (I have no idea who Eren is, so I can't comment on the comparison there). I'm not really sure what to suggest in this case. It might just take some experimentation to see what works for Rayner's character.
I'm still confused why E.V.L. needs to be a Mary Sue in the first place, especially since most of her Sue powers would be bound away. Why not just make her a regular canon-based demon? She can still end up being bound to Rayner through the whole blood magic thing. She can still antagonistic towards the PPC and its goals, albeit in a "this is all pointless, my dark masters will destroy everything eventually" kind of way. I might even argue that it provides a better story explanation as to why the Flowers would recruit her.
Consider the following. I'm guessing you're a Troper based on your referencing of "Broken Bird." I think that's the wrong trope to approach in this regard (especially since that E.V.L. doesn't really fit the definition as given; what traumatic event in her past besides "being captured" would make her cynical? Her strength hardly seems facade-like to me). Look at this more like a Boxed Crook scenario. The Flowers could just have E.V.L. banished to a pocket dimension prison or something. She won't die, but neither will she threaten the order of canon. However, she is allowed to go relatively free (albeit in a reduced state) in exchange for her services fighting Sues. Hardly much of a choice there, but killing these "Sues" is better than spending all of eternity outside of space and time.
Just some idea I wanted to spitball. It's ultimately up to you. -
Oh, and another thing... by
on 2014-11-16 18:04:00 UTC
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I've found a badfic that qualifies for my DMS team's first mission - so now I have something to work with as an experiment for developing my revised agents' character. Given how helpful your feedback was in this respect, I wonder if you can beta-read the mission once it's ready? Thanks again~ :)
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What's the fic? (nm) by
on 2014-11-18 00:44:00 UTC
Link to this
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Here it is... by
on 2014-11-18 04:25:00 UTC
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Let Rise a New Alicorn - since it's from Rayner's home continuum, it should be a pretty good start. A human named Tara ends up falling through a magic mirror into Equestria, there's a seventh Element of Harmony, Sombra comes back (or is replaced), Twilight gets abused, and so on and so forth. Fun times.
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I think I can help. by
on 2014-11-19 20:54:00 UTC
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My email is poorcynic(at)me(dot)com (substituting appropriate punctuation where necessary).
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Re: Some follow-ups. by
on 2014-11-15 06:05:00 UTC
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(I go out to have dinner with some friends, and my thread gets derailed by a discussion about the origins of Lilith in Babylonian mythology? Geez, you guys... XD)
Anyway, the idea behind E.V.L. being explicitly Suvian was to provide a unique viewpoint as far as PPC characters go. Most Sues who get recruited by the PPC are willing to balance their abilities and character for the sake of storytelling. E.V.L., on the other hand, had to have her power restrained by force, and similar to what you suggested, she would believe that ridding the world of badfic would ultimately be a Sisyphean ordeal. Essentially, she hates doing the Duty, but has no choice on the matter and nothing else to do.
Yeah, I do use Tropes a lot, and it's how I found the PPC in the first place. The Boxed Crook trope does sound more appropriate now that I've looked it up, and the pocket dimension prison works pretty well for her too. I could have her mention that since the Flowers can't afford to sacrifice Rayner, they offer to either imprison her or have her actively help her captor kill badfic. The latter, of course, being the lesser of two evils.
Ultimately, the way I usually develop my characters is through an active process, letting them gain strengths and weaknesses as they go. I could probably compromise the dilemma of either E.V.L. being a Sue or an ordinary OC by having her start with a Suvian mentality, believing that these characters aren't as bad as they seem, but gradually changes her opinion once she finds out how awful most of them really are. Likewise, Rayner adjusting to his condition will likely be a subplot throughout my DMS missions, with E.V.L. attempting to help even if she doesn't know what the Hell she's supposed to do about it.
I guess it was my mistake to post the initial bios without having them beta-reviewed, sorry to say. I'll remember to be more careful with those next time! ^^; -
Being a latecomer to the story... by
on 2014-11-14 00:43:00 UTC
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I see that you've made a lot of the changes that you said you would. However, you seem to have missed a question that PC raised--a question that I would like to see answered as well. What do you mean when you refer to E.V.L.'s home canon as the Bible. I'm guessing that you added the (extended canon) part as a fix, but IMO, that only makes things more confusing.
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Re: Being a latecomer to the story... by
on 2014-11-14 01:13:00 UTC
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The (extended canon) bit was actually there from her conception, as the canonical Lilith is technically a canon from the extended Biblical mythos (she first appeared in the Babylonian Talmud and was since adopted by Jewish mythology), and E.V.L. was technically intended as a Character Replacement of that particular figure.
If that doesn't work out, I could always go with Dante's Divine Comedy as her home continuum, as it's the most appropriate one I could think of. No pressure ^^; -
No problem. by
on 2014-11-14 04:01:00 UTC
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If that's the case, then perhaps you can list her home continuum as "Babylonian mythology," especially given that the current canon designation is a bit confusing and that the Lilith-demon is not mentioned in the Bible, AFAIK. (BTW, nowhere in the bio do you mention that E.V.L. is based off of the mythological Lilith. You might want to add that detail.)
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PS: Lilith. by
on 2014-11-14 06:40:00 UTC
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Ah, Lilith. Whether she's mentioned in the Torah is... basically the whole question. Her existence in the Talmud comes about because of the structure of Genesis 1+2. It goes like this:
-God creates the world.
-God creates humanity, male and female.
-Adam wanders around alone.
-God creates Eve from Adam.
The observation that this seems to imply two creations of women - one simultaneously with Adam, one significantly after - is what led to the Lilith story. She's 'Adam's first wife', created alongside him - and since she was later replaced, she must have done something really bad. Quite how that translated into 'dominatrix who consorts with demons', I'm not really sure.
(Of course, it's just possible the narrative at that point isn't strictly linear... no? No, of course not, that would be ridiculous. Demons it is, then)
hS -
Babylonian Talmud =/= Bab. mythology by
on 2014-11-14 06:35:00 UTC
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The Babylonian Talmud is the version of the Talmud - essentially the written version of the Jewish oral tradition - that has its origin in Babylon (as opposed to the Jerusalem Talmud). It's basically The Tanakh: Extended Edition. (This is the 'really really basic explanation', you should probably find someone, uh, Jewish to give a better version).
Babylonian mythology, on the other hand, is the place where Gilgamesh, Ishtar, Marduk and the like hang out; it's related to Jewish mythology only by virtue of coming from the same general geographical region.
Basically this would be like saying 'Oh, Harry Potter? You could say he comes from Discworld, then', since they're both British series with a school for wizards in. ;)
hS -
You called? by
on 2014-11-14 17:57:00 UTC
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/clears throat/ Okay, let's do this.
Essentially, your basic explanation is pretty accurate. The Babylonian Talmud was the one written by the Jews who were exiled to Babylon; the Jerusalem Talmud was not actually written in Jerusalem, but it was written by the Jews who stayed in Israel (it's just that they mostly weren't in Jerusalem by that point, but rather in varying places across the country).
The Talmud itself is actually an expansion of the Mishnah, which was the written-down version of the oral tradition/oral Torah; Rabbi Judah HaNasi codified the Mishnah due to the rising fear that all the rabbis would be killed, and the tradition would be lost. However, the oral Torah was actually not supposed to be written down...so he wrote it in as few words as possible. This caused much confusion for later generations.
The Talmuds were later written in order to a, figure out exactly what the Mishnah's talking about, and b, to discuss such things as whether the law must be updated for the current time. Both were written over quite a number of centuries and generations, which are actually divided into at least five or six categories (with the modern-day scholars being part of the last one). They feature different people, slightly different styles of Aramaic, and one will occasionally cover a topic from the Mishnah that the other doesn't (most notably the topic of laws that only apply in Israel). The Talmud also provides insight into the people involved in the conversations it records (the coolest description I've ever heard of it was something like 'the Talmud makes it sound like all the rabbis of various time periods and places are sitting together and conversing.'
This, of course, is occasionally coupled with stories, which are generally meant to teach you something but also sometimes say funny or interesting things about the rabbis in the stories). I don't entirely know how it is in other schools, but in my high school Talmud classes we ended up with a lot of laughter and many inside jokes. (I don't mean to imply that we didn't learn a lot, because we did; we just had a whole lot of fun doing it).
The Talmud (both of them) follows the structure of the Mishnah, and is divided into sections ("orders"), which are then divided into smaller sections ("tractates"). Each tractate can easily span 1-3 volumes, although they admittedly come published with commentary; I believe there are 62 tractates in total, although my numbers could be off. Either way, it's very, very long. (Tanakh, Extended Edition indeed!) The Talmud as a whole is, along with the Mishnah and, of course, the Tanakh, one of the most important books in Judaism, even today. Why? Because whatever law you can possibly be unsure of, it's been discussed and recorded in there. And even if it hasn't, there'll be something similar that can help you out.
Due to the Talmud's length, there have been a whole lot of people who made halakhah/law books--sort of 'Talmud: Condensed Edition', if you will. The lengthier of these are usually just going through the Talmud--yes, all of it--and recording only the decisions. Did I say 'just'? Ha. No. It's a huge job, and probably took years.
But why, you ask, would anyone have to record the decisions? Surely they'd only have to filter out the stories?
Well, no. I mean, yes, a lot of the stories don't contain rulings on law. However, you remember when I mentioned conversations earlier? Yup. That's what the majority of the Talmud is: two rabbis have an argument. One says that tree branches cannot be collected on a holiday under any circumstances; the other says that if they were already on the ground, it's fine. This debate is recorded. A century later, another rabbi says to his study partner that branches can only be collected from the ground if it's certain that they fell there that morning; his study partner tells him that that's ridiculous, because the proof that the original second rabbi brought in (a hundred years ago) clearly states that the branches fell and were collected--that is, immediately collected. Fifty years later, one student quotes this debate to his study partner, who promptly bangs his fist on the table and brings in proof that says the original proof only applies on weekdays, thereby negating it. Their teacher then comes over, and says, "What, do you really think that's right? Impossible! I have further proof that means that the first proof still works, and also negates the one you just brought in. The law is with the original second rabbi, done." And then they probably argue over it for a while, but the Talmud only really records the boiled-down message of what each one says, and so the extra arguing isn't recorded. The Talmud then states that the teacher is right, the law is with the original second rabbi, and the case is closed.**
(Proof here is sentences from the Tanakh that indicate law or that can be used in conjunction with other sentences to indicate law. For example, in a discussion on whether or not girls should be taught Torah, the quote "and you shall teach your sons" is often brought up, with the addendum '--your sons, and not your daughters'. That particular debate, however, has continued through many centuries and many opinions, and has reached the point where a number of rulings say that it's perfectly fine for girls to study Torah, Talmud, and all the rest of it. This is what enables me to be sitting here and writing about my high school Talmud class; while the school is a, mixed gender, and b, has students from most of the religious denominations of Judaism, they would definitely have received backlash from part of the community if we were still living, say, in Talmudic times. Or several hundred years ago. Have you ever seen Yentl? There were certainly exceptions, but for the most part girls were limited to lessons from the Torah.)
Mind you, these conversations were not recorded at the time they happened. Instead, they were passed down through memorization.
That's right. For years, people memorized the Talmud--yes, all of it--and taught it by reciting it. Presumably, the new debates were added in as they arose. (Obviously, no one person memorized the whole thing, but people would know an entire book. Or two. It makes studying it today in written form sound so simple.) I don't currently remember when (or why) it was written down, though I assume the 'why' is yet again because they were afraid it would be lost. As the Talmud is the Jewish people's most major book of law, losing it would be a great tragedy.
Mind you, not everything that Jews do today--or even in the past--is written in the Talmud. A whole lot of things arose through tradition, which was then accepted into the general religious culture; one rabbi actually states in the Talmud that traditions can become the halakhah (or law) simply by virtue of being so widely accepted. (This is as far as I remember; there is a possibility that he or another person then negated that. I'm pretty sure someone said that traditions can occasionally or often become law, though, so if I'm wrong...well, my bad. Sorry).
Anyway. While I could quite easily continue with this explanation of the Talmud, this does cover the major details, and is probably more than anyone was looking for. I'm quite happy to make a sequel, though (which would include notes on the structure of the pages, and on who commentated, and what some of the stories are, and all of that).
(If anyone's curious: I studied Mishnah for...a year, I think, and Talmud for four. Well, technically it was six, but the classes got more serious in high school. I've taken shorter courses since then, and have covered the history of the Talmud and the Mishnah and so on in Jewish History classes for more years than I'd really care to try to count just now, including last year in a university course. So. That would be my credentials.)
By the way, hS, where on earth did you get your knowledge? It's extremely accurate, in both details and terminology.
~DawnFire, Jewish Studies major, signing off
PS: Word count says this is over 1,000 words. If you read it all, I commend you and hope it was interesting.
PPS: Forgot to mention--the Mishnah is written in Hebrew, while the Talmud essentially takes a sentence from the Mishnah and then records the debates and so on in Aramaic. The commentators come in very handy while studying it these days, as does a teacher. And the occasional dictionary or translation.
(Or, y'know, an Aramaic class. I want to take one at some point. Apparently, one of the universities in my city offers one. But it's certainly possible to study Talmud without it! Why, I'm living proof!)
/backs away from the computer and goes to make tea/
---
**I should mention that this case/exchange is completely made up; there is, however, at least one dealing with what you can do with branches that have fallen on a holiday, including what you can do if they've fallen of their volition into your outdoor oven. I think it's in Masechet Beitzah (aka, Tractate Egg).
(It takes its name from the first word in the tractate, which is, of course, 'egg'. Specifically, 'an egg that was laid on a holiday, the house of Shammai says it may be eaten, the house of Hillel says it may not be eaten.' That was a fun tractate. Apparently, one of the physics teachers actually came into the other class to show them how an egg's structure meant that it actually could be used to prop up a bed--or in this case, a desk--without breaking. And yes, that's one of the purposes of eggs being discussed in the tractate. Pretty sure we were all incredulous when we first read that.) -
My 'knowledge'... by
on 2014-11-17 11:04:00 UTC
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... came from the same place as most of my other knowledge: Wikipedia, plus random wanderings. I actually read a portion of the Talmud at one point, for want of anything else to do; I found the conversational-anecdotal style really interesting as a structure. Come to think of it, it's probably what's being referenced by the annotations to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch in Good Omens, with the whole conversation-carried-out-over-centuries thing.
One question I have is... not really a question: it sounds from what you're saying like the Talmud isn't really an authoritative document. It's more like a series of cases for and against certain readings, which implies that a) it can be disagreed with (on evidentiary grounds, naturally), and b) it could theoretically be added to? How far off the mark are those two notions?
hS -
Sorry if I offended anyone. by
on 2014-11-14 13:03:00 UTC
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That was an epic fail on my part. Thanks for the correction.
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I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not offended. by
on 2014-11-14 17:59:00 UTC
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There's pretty much no way you could have known what a Talmud is; in your shoes, I probably would have just assumed it was a Babylonian word, and reacted as you did. Quite understandable.
~DF -
Re: mission and also mission I guess by
on 2014-11-13 05:54:00 UTC
Link to this
Hey, okay, I've been reading this throughout a long work shift and I need to go sleep bed soon, so I'll say some stuff but not as much stuff as usual and then go bed sleep. Sorry for short wording.
"Scarlet Disgrace"
Things I like:
-Sarah's forced references to Incredibles. Shows pride in home.
--Also, fact that she has studied other superheroic continua. Feels appropriate.
-Rashida not as demanding/controlling as early missions; shows character development, better leaderships.
-Falchion also character develops with the not speaking as Pteranothing. Better self control/think before speaking.
-VERY LIKE intro with Beast Boy. Like the unique angle and mostly untouched writing angle to explore. Ties in well with Beast Boy's team-up with agents later.
-Having Beast Boy and Robin join up with agents. You actually handled it very well here. I think I'm supposed to caution you here not to do it too frequently, but really I know other PPCers have had similar set ups in missions, and again, you did it well, and it's not that big a deal to me anyway. (Old timey agents did way more character interaction than we do nowadays.)
Things I dislike:
-I know Cyborg was ignored by the fic, but you also ignore him until the finale. He suddenly appears at the end of the mission, and this could confuse readers unfamiliar with the characters.
Things I meh:
Don't know if fic presented quite enough of vampire!Robin to warrant recruitment, but I guess it's better than just another uninteresting kill, and I pretty much did the same thing with Mollie and Ollie so yeah whatever works.
"When Good Banishments Go Bad"
I liked the setup here: that it looks like a fairly plain assassination, and then he gets to the SO's office and sees her there, I went, "Wait, why did the Weeds bring her back here?" And then the SO drops the bomb that Rayner portalled her there, and I was uite shocked and surprised so kudos there.
*Ahem* Okay, cutting the sleepy gag for a moment. It's fine that you're into foot-tickling, and it's fine to represent that in your PPC writing. I didn't bring it up on Sarah's profile back when you posted it, because I clearly saw the reason behind it in the fic from which she was recruited. I see on this pair of bios that Rayner has ticklish feet and E.V.L. is mentioned to have "huge" feet. I just want to make sure this isn't a "pepper-jack cheese" situation: Are these traits a part of these characters' person, something that helps to define them and identify them? Or are they something you, as the author, want to see there? Again, I want to stress that I'm not judging you in any way for your tastes; I'm totally fine with you. I'm just asking this as a reflection exercise on designing the characters. (If I've offended anyway, please let me know, so I can do better in the future.)
Okay still sleepy almost 11 o'clock, need to go review hS now bye. -
Re: mission and also mission I guess by
on 2014-11-13 16:38:00 UTC
Link to this
Regarding "Scarlet Disgrace":
Thanks for all of the good points you have made about the characterization! And as for BB's intro and the team-up, I've been meaning to do that ever since I found out that he barely showed up at all in the fic, which was interpreted by myself as him standing on the sidelines and facepalming at the whole thing. Robin's joining in was a last-minute addition when I decided on his character being replaced but I'm glad that worked out too. BTW, Falchion was disguised as a Quetzalcoatlus; I find it interesting that this fact wasn't explicitly noted, but then again I hinted at the possibility of this species hypothetically existing within the continuum, so I guess it works out.
Cyborg actually is mentioned a few times during the beginning and throughout the badfic narration, though you're right in that he doesn't get that many lines until the end. I may go back and fix that up at a later time, but I don't know how much I can get away with - he wasn't that much more involved than Beast Boy was in the actual fic.
Regarding "When Good Banishments Go Bad":
Again, thanks for the positive feedback on this one - something like this has been coming for a LONG time, and I hope it'll give me something to do should production get delayed for my Floaters team.
Concerning the fetishes, I was actually surprised that this was brought up as a point of discussion, and honestly, before reading a little closer, I actually had horrible flashbacks to a few years ago when I got a number of people mad at me for being a huge prick - these people labeled the very fact that I have a tickle fetish in the first place as a metaphorical red flag. This is why I have become extremely cautious about introducing it to any social group on the Internet, obvious niche interest groups aside. Granted, my first mission might have actually disabused that notion to some degree, since I co-authored the fic itself and thus showcased most of my interests while writing it, but it's a relief to see that I won't be judged for specific kinks nonetheless.
To answer your specific question, Rayner and E.V.L. both have fetishes incorporated into their respective history - the actual use I had planned for Rayner was an ask blog that included tickling among other content (though Cupcakes-inspired slash may have been involved, hint hint), and E.V.L. has incorporated my idea of female fanservice into some of her later revisions to her design (Her big feet are because she's a freakin' amazon - not many of the women I've met have come even close to 6 feet tall!). So I can say with confidence that fetishes have been a part of their character throughout their creative history, and exploring their sexuality in general is definitely something I'll consider for future missions with them (mostly in the NSFW missions, of course, gotta keep things organized around here).
Heck, I'd probably even have E.V.L. take advantage of Rayner's ticklishness and his broken leg in the pre-mission of their first assignment together - after all, it's only fair that she'd start off by being as intentionally annoying as theoretically possible. XD -
Taking this out of order. by
on 2014-11-12 09:20:00 UTC
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I'm not sure which bits of this I'm going to reply to, so I'll just do it a bit at a time, starting in this post with Rayner and E.V.L.
The story/prologue is good; it really gets Rayner's character across, and E.V.L.'s, er... psychoticness? Whatever. And the idea of a 'good' (using the term loosely) and evil character being bound and forced to work together is always interesting - have you by any chance played Beyond Divinity? Similar set-up.
But, er... why can't they just kill her? The PPC has access all the destructive technology in the universe. Why not just, say, wait for the next time DOGA decide to air out a Sun Crusher, drop her into the star in question, and then send it supernova? I'm pretty sure she's not coming back from that, and since the Weeds can hold her down, she's clearly not overpowered enough to escape it.
One possibility occurs to me - bind her life to Rayner's. A magic spell which means anyone who tastes her blood is bound to her, and that in order for her to die, he would have to be killed as well, isn't exactly far-fetched - heck, it's just a straightforward adaptation of Horcrux technology. It wouldn't even need an edit to the prologue, since you haven't reached that point yet.
(It's probably a good thing he didn't get to send her to Dante's hell - I get the impression she would have taken it over)
hS -
Great idea, actually by
on 2014-11-13 16:09:00 UTC
Link to this
The concept of blood magic as a means of immortality actually makes a lot of sense for E.V.L., and would be perfectly in line with her being a demonic entity. I may have her bring up the fact that since Rayner consumed bits of her when they first met, she's now bound to him and can only die when he does. So thanks for suggesting that idea!
I'm unfortunately unable to play any video games at all nowadays due to way too many real life reasons, but I can understand the point you were making. I was thinking of this as a character development experiment, though, with both of them learning self control and respect for each other. While killing Sues, of course ;)
As an aside, not trying to pander for attention here, but I've noticed that I haven't gotten a single request for a fanfic for these two to tackle yet - I don't know if I can get the time to look for promising candidates myself with studying and the like. ^^; -
I had momentary confusion. by
on 2014-11-12 04:16:00 UTC
Link to this
Name-space collisions can be rather traumatic.
My agent Robin Thorne may take issue with name-stealing. *amused* -
I should've mentioned this sooner... by
on 2014-11-12 04:56:00 UTC
Link to this
...but Vamp!Robin probably needs a new name as well, so as to avoid confusion with not only any agents named Robin but the canonical Robin from Teen Titans as well.
Ah well, at least you now know that! XD
-
Triple Continuity Council plug! by
on 2014-11-12 09:04:00 UTC
Link to this
Yes, the Wednesday Pluggage continues, but once again I'm taking a week's break from Driftwood (I was busy at the end of last week, so I haven't had time to write it). Instead, here's not one, but three stories from the annals of the Continuity Council of Gallifrey-in-Exile.
(For previous Continuity Council exploits, see their introduction and Continuity: Gallifrey Bickers)
1/ Continuity: Purge
Set last November, right after the showing of The Day of the Doctor. All of these should be considered to have spoilers for the end of that Anniversary Special, by the way. This introduces a new character for one of my favourite underused PPC locations; whether he has any relation to a certain fictional astronomer-dwarf of the same name is left as an exercise to the reader.
2/ Continuity: Gallifrey Imminent
Taking place at some point after The Day of the Doctor. Specifically, it's set during The Ispace Wars, which probably makes it March/April of this year, but wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.
3/ Continuity: Tea
Set sometime in the last month or so. The first part of this was written by DawnFire, who was foolish enough to mention the Continuity Council; that meant I just had to pick it up. This one has actually been seen in its entirety on the Board. It doesn't have any real plot - it's just a vignette.
Apologies are probably due to all writers of Time Lords, particularly for 'Gallifrey Imminent'. If I've thrown anyone wildly OOC, do let me know and I'll fix it. Otherwise - reviews are always welcome!
hS -
Re: story and other story also by
on 2014-11-13 06:08:00 UTC
Link to this
Hey okay, really sleepy, let's get this over with for sleep bedding. Sorry for not-as-good- review, have work in morning.
"Purge"
Very, very good to see les Museeaccentmark more. Like the description; would have to be absolutely monstrous huge to fit everything. Like the Cornelius man, amusing personality, will be fun to write as someday.
Wonder how the museum got all those books from totally existing Gallifrey in the first place?
"Gallifrey Imminent"
THIS is amazing. HOO BOY so amazing. You basically set up, implemented and resolved an entire emergency in four tiny-short scenes. A masterpiece of elegance. Love the idea of protagonist!Jareth. Using Doc Brown clever. Don't know the other two.Personally, I would have pickedno, no, let's not ruin the moment with fanwank.
(I picture Twelfth Doctor, because Eleventh already got to have fun in HQ with Slorp and Angels.)
"Tea"
Read the original RP post, didn't read story format. No time. Sorry.
Okay, need sleepytimes eight minutes ago. Still to brushing teeth yet. Ask, and maybe I can have better words in morning. Sorry.
Best part of Doctor Who is theme song. ♪Oooooo weeeee ooooooooooooooooo! Ooooooo weeeeee oooo ooooooo!♪ -
Hee, no problem. by
on 2014-11-13 09:19:00 UTC
Link to this
I've no idea how the Musee pulls its collection from what are, by definition, lost worlds - possibly they find a fic set before they were lost? I'unno.
And I'm curious - who would you have picked? Carl Romeo is a wizard who specialises in temporal manipulation, and Esme Weatherwax once time-slipped an entire kingdom eighteenish years into the future. I was tempted by one of the Mrses from A Wrinkle in Time, but couldn't remember if they had actual time powers; but there's ultimately heaps of time characters out there. So go on - you're a Time Lord, trying to retcon a disaster, and you can pick any four canon characters to help you (other than people from Doctor Who, which is quarantined). Who do you bring along?
♪Da DAH, da-da-da-dah, DAH, da-da-da-dah, ooo oooo, ooooo weeee oooo♪
hS -
Good morning! by
on 2014-11-13 14:06:00 UTC
Link to this
I had meant that line as a joke, just because everyone's answer would be influenced by what canons they know. I haven't read Discworld or Young Wizards (right?) (or A Wrinkle in Time, actually), so they just don't mean much to me. Wasn't necessarily criticizing your picks, but since you asked:
I also haven't watched Back to the Future all the way through—long movie is long, and doctorlit gets antsy from sitting still too long. But I would still pick Doc Brown, if only because Morgan seems to be a fan, and irony is tasty. Plus, his continuum and Doctor Who seem to take similarly chaotic, sci-fi views towards time travel (from what little I've seen of both shows), so he would have a fair idea of what's going on.
I would definitely have to pick Teferi from MAgic: the Gathering. This is a man who not only survived major temporal trauma (being trapped in a slow time bubble mid explosion, and basically performing a single dive through flames to escape a burning room over a span of decades), but also fought against other planeswalkers (super-wizards) to stop their little conflicts from enveloping entire worlds. He's also a powerful time mage himself, putting his own country out of "phase" with the rest of the planet to let it escape a global war. Finally, he sealed off a series of time rifts that were threatening to destabilize (the same) world. I think he's quite equipped to battle Time Lords!
For number three, a bit of cheating: the Ellimist and Crayak, both from Animorphs. They're both beings with the power to basically create and change entire timelines at will, with a mind to making the universe the way they want it to be. Neither would appreciate such a massive level of outside interference. While they're normally enemies, I can imagine a team-up pretty easily; the Ellimist would go to far lengths to put his continuum back the way it should, and Crayak would want to continue his universe-size chess game unmolested. (And, as a villain, he would be majorly targeted by the Continuity Council to begin with.)
Lastly, well—I really like your use of Jareth, actually? He's not a charcter you would regularly associate with the concept of time, but when you think about how he can manipulate the Labyrinth, and people's minds, it's actually pretty clear he does wield some control over it. Some might argue that his powers wouldn't work outside the Labyrinth, but you have to consider: Sarah's parents seem to be out to dinner an awfully long time, don't you think? (I forget what they were doing, but whatever it was: dinner, movie, show, they shouldn't have been gone that long.)
So, yeah. Again, it's just a familiarity thing, and I wound up ripping off half your list anyway. -
Is the Ellimist... by
on 2014-11-13 14:21:00 UTC
Link to this
... that four-dimensional thing that shows up... ehhhh, it's been too long since I read this. Was it the one that gave Tobias back his morphing ability? Or at least let him pick up a 'human Tobias' morph?
Never heard of Crayak (I don't think) or Teferi. As to Jareth - time in the Labyrinth clearly passes at double speed, and he does have a line about reordering it. Then there's the fact that Sarah has about a minute to spare when she reaches the throne room - but spends way more than that in the Escher room. (I'm not sure we ever knew what they did, actually - my memory cuts in with 'Your father and I go out very rarely-''You go out every single weekend!' and then some really terrible assumptions on the part of the wicked stepmother)
Also. Y'know. He's magic. He can teleport. He can spontaneously change costume. He can hypnotise you with a peach (and I think there's a timeslip in that sequence, too). He's probably got something up his sleeve.
hS -
Yes, about the Ellimist. by
on 2014-11-13 14:48:00 UTC
Link to this
Crayak first showed up in #26, when the Ellimist brings the Animorphs to another planet to fight some of Crayak's minions. His backstory was given in The Ellimist Chronicles, but I mostly remember him for the book in which he tempts Rachel with superpowers in an attempt to make her subservient.
*goes to bookshelf to double-check what he just typed*
Wow. I actually had that book number memorized. Why do I have that memorized?
—doctorlit's formative childhood years are filled with Animorphs trivia and empty Twizzlers bag huffing. -
Don't think I got that far. by
on 2014-11-13 15:16:00 UTC
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The last things I remember were David, and... well, at least one of the one where they go see dinosaurs, and The Andalite Chronicles. I'm pretty sure most of my Animorphs reading was done out of the library - I only remember owning a couple.
I wonder if they've ever issues omnibus editions? That might be worth tracking down...
hS -
Oops. Uh, sorry for two-decades-old spoilers? by
on 2014-11-14 02:24:00 UTC
Link to this
Oh, that would be so cool! They could do it like those huge hardcover books they sell at Barnes & Noble with the complete works of Lovecraft or Anderson or whoever. It would probably be about the same length, considering I need an entire shelf for the main series. (The two choose-your-own-adventure Alternamorphs titles didn't fit, so they're one shelf up.)
-
Random Animorphs ahahahaha: by
on 2014-11-18 11:52:00 UTC
Link to this
There's a dodgy Pokemom ripoff game for the GBC.
Did anyone play this back in the day? Because it sounds hilariously bad.
Also -- eek, we have a Bad Roleplay Department, and this is a game with, presumably, RPG elements... would sporking the story of the game be a valid mission?
hS -
Now, now, hS. by
on 2014-11-18 17:23:00 UTC
Link to this
We don't go after published canons! You know better! After all, a video game adaptation is no different than *opening link* LotR having movie vers—HRRRRRR What. WHAT. What is this? Who put Pokémon all over my Formative Childhood Fandom? My serious psychological study of the effects of war on the human psyche has no room for aggrandized turn-based anime combat!
*looks at picture* Coyote morph? All the Animorphs had a wolf morph, but no coyotes ever showed up in the book series. I know this! I remember! NOT CANON. NOT CANON. It must be destroyed! Ilraen, Orken, Iskillion! Gunslingers, to me! For the Gardens! For the Pool Ship! FOR THE TOWER!
(So, Pokemom, huh? What about Pokedad? Is he not good enough to warrant mentioning?) -
Just went and measured my own Animorphs shelf. by
on 2014-11-14 20:47:00 UTC
Link to this
It's six feet long and I had to stack several of the Alternamorphs/Megamorphs on top of the other books. And I have the whole series.
Though I seem to have misplaced my own Choose Your Own Adventure books... Bah, they're probably hiding under my bed.
Where was I? Oh yeah. If there were to be a 'complete works' for the books, they'd probably have to condense the type size by a lot. -
Oh, let's see. by
on 2014-11-15 14:01:00 UTC
Link to this
I have the main series all lined up, so that measures up to: Just shy of two feet and six inches. (That's the fifty-four main titles, four Megamorphs, three Chronicles backstories and Visser.)
The two Alternamorphs are a further three quarters of an inch. So altogether, it's roughly two feet, six point five inches!
They wouldn't necessarily have to condense the type, though. Most of the books are pretty small, so they each wouldn't take up many pages of a large omnibus. The main disadvantage is that the little flip-book animations in the corner of the page wouldn't translate. -
And a completely random thought: by
on 2014-11-18 12:01:00 UTC
Link to this
Stephenie Meyer's The Host: Yeerk propaganda? Discuss.
(Also: Yeerk romance novel. Horrible idea, or the horriblest idea?)
hS -
Say... by
on 2014-11-17 17:18:00 UTC
Link to this
I have an Animorphs question that's been bugging me for a while: what color is Andalite blood? I've looked around the internet, and apparently in book #29 there's a description of Ax's blood being blue-black. It seems legit—one person even gave a page number, 140—but I'd still like to confirm it. In lieu of seeing it with my own eyes, could you lovely book-having folks double-check for me and give the full line?
~Neshomeh -
What the heck would that be based on? by
on 2014-11-17 17:44:00 UTC
Link to this
I mean, iron gives red, copper we know gives blue-green... so that means you can derive blood-colour from the colour of the transition metal ions in solution/complexes. So... hmm...
... I am not the person to be figuring this out. I mean, yes, I know the chemistry - but being somewhat colour-blind means figuring out whether Chromium(III) solution is dark blue or dark purple is an impossibility.
This lovely chart shows colours for the top row - chromium or copper (II) could be blue on there. But we know copper blood is greenish...
(And, y'know, heaven forfend we delve beyond the first row of the d-block)
hS -
What am I looking at? by
on 2014-11-17 19:34:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm afraid I don't understand what the chart is supposed to show. ^_^; The Fe column contains nothing remotely red at all (the +2 box is pale green and the +3 box is butter yellow), so how does this relate to blood color?
~Neshomeh -
I'm way over my head trying to talk anything chemistry. by
on 2014-11-17 19:16:00 UTC
Link to this
But I can at least contribute a teensy bit of biology to this conversation.
Horseshoe crabswhich are not stingrayshave that copper (as hemocyanin) in their blood for carrying oxygen. However, their blood is actually closer in color to the "+2" box under Copper in that table you linked, and then, only in large quantities. Individual drops looks more like cloudy water:
This point in this video has examples of both colorings.
(I realize responding to a post where someone states they're color-blind by posting a video and saying LOOK THE COLORS is kind of horrible, so I apologize for that.)
(And yes, I am super-displeased by how that blood is collected. I recognize the incredible medical value of their blood, and I would never deprive anyone in need of care of the products of that research, but damn there has got to be a more comfortable way for the horseshoes for sit through that.)
So something in horseshoe crab blood besides the copper in the hemocyanin affects/determines the coloring. Again, I couldn't say what, because my chemistry (and medical) knowledge is quite poor. So Andalite blood could also use a copper-based molecular structure for oxygen transport (Do they use oxygen? They survive in Earth's atmosphere, but oxygen is a minority there, so it's not definitely what Ax was inhaling all those years.), but have other factors that darken the color of their blood. Or, not use copper at all and have other elements in their bloodstream entirely.
—doctorlit waits for the inevitable debunking of everything he just said as being completely out-of-line with modern chemical knowledge. -
Hum-hum-hum. by
on 2014-11-18 07:43:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm not sure I'd look at that blood and think 'blue-black'. Hmm...
The question of whether Andalites are oxygen-fixers is an interesting one, but I think it's a non-starter; the only other option in Earth's atmosphere is nitrogen, and I don't think it's reactive enough to fill the oxygen role. I guess you could do something weird with the fact that fixed nitrogen is a fertiliser, and the fact that they eat grass... not sure the world is ready for algae-powered Andalites, though.
So, oxygen fixing. I've just stumbled across the fact that cobalt can act similarly to iron in some organic molecules, and cobalt is known for its blueish colours. Cobalt(II) can be either blue or pink, and cobalt(II) iodide is actually described as blue-black - though I suspect that comes from the iodine.
Basically, this colour comes from cobalt, and feels very 'blue-black' to me. Whether there's a viable haemoglobin replacement (coboglobin?) is an open question, but I'd guess this is what they were thinking of with Ax.
hS -
Found it! (Warning for description of surgery.) by
on 2014-11-17 17:42:00 UTC
Link to this
From Animorphs #29: "The Sickness," chapter 26, pp. 139 to 140 (Cassie's point of view):
"Thanks." I picked up the scalpel and positioned it to one side of the spot Aftran had described. Then I made a straight cut about four inches long. I could feel the metal blade scraping the bone of Ax's skull.
But that was good. That's how deep I needed to go. I needed to peel back a flap of skin so I could work on the bone.
A line of blue-black blood appeared. My stomach did a flip-flop. I swallowed hard and made a cut that was perpendicular to the first, again about four inches long.
"Hemostat!" I snapped.
Bleh. I actually had trouble reading some of this scene. I can't stand medical stuff. I wonder if I had trouble with that scene when I was younger? I don't remember being bothered. -
Thank you! by
on 2014-11-17 19:21:00 UTC
Link to this
Whew, mystery solved. {= )
Sorry it was off-putting to you, though. I personally find medical stuff fascinating enough that any amount of squick I might feel is vastly overpowered by "ooooh, cooool!"
~Neshomeh -
I remember being squicked when I was younger. by
on 2014-11-18 19:02:00 UTC
Link to this
But at the same time I was too worried about Ax to be super-grossed out. Oh, how un-Genre Savvy I was.
And I love reading medical books and stuff- I found an interesting book at the library the other day all about the stages of human corpse decomposition that's really fascinating- but I'd vomit if I saw that in real life. :3
(Also, darn. I didn't see this thread until I got to school and had no access to my collection.) -
Two feet, six inches?! Are you a magician or something? (nm) by
on 2014-11-15 14:18:00 UTC
Link to this
-
I . . . don't think so? >_> (nm) by
on 2014-11-15 15:05:00 UTC
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-
My thoughts, plus some rambling questions. by
on 2014-11-12 23:09:00 UTC
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As mentioned in the subject, there will be some off-topic rambling here and there. My apologies in advance.
Purge
This was probably my favorite of the three stories. A nice little exploration of an aspect of the PPC that isn't really talked about all that much. The Musee is a great concept that I'd definitely like to see more done with in the future.
I liked the character of Dr. Cornelius. It was nice to see the juxtaposition of his curmudgeonly and reasonable aspects. He's also got a great name. That's a name that definitely fits an agent. Lorelei felt a bit more flat to me, although that's probably just because of how short the story is.
I wanted to touch on your brief mention of the "standard PPC uniform." Has the "standard" uniform ever been fully described? Its original mention in "Vacation at OFUM" just describes the uniform as being black. From what I've read (and admittedly written), most "uniforms" in the PPC hardly fit the word. Get something with some black on it, a flash patch, and everything would seem to be golden.
Gallifrey Imminent
I liked the overall tone of this piece. Plus, this is the kind of concept that always interests me: the decline of the well-intentioned and the heroic into the dark side. I also liked the collection of heroes that you gathered to try and stop the council.
It did seem that the PPC fell pretty quickly. I know this is supposed to be a short story and Time Lords are pretty dang powerful, but the PPC (as you mentioned) pretty much has access to any weapon throughout the entirety of canon. They might not win - heck, they probably wouldn't win - but I'd have to think they'd at least bloody Gallifrey's nose a little.
Slight qualm: In "Gallifrey Bickers," Morgan is one of those who were opposing the Notary's proposed takeover of the PPC (or that's how it seemed to me, anyway - maybe I missed something). I know this isn't the same situation, but what made her change her mind in this instance?
Tea
This was fairly pleasant, if a bit confusing at first. It took me a bit longer than I'd like to admit to realize that the Continuity Council had jumped into another multiverse (and so easily, too!). It doesn't really tell me anything about the characters that I didn't already know or couldn't already figure out. Whereas the other two felt like stories that needed to happen in some way, this one just seemed a bit innocuous. It was still amusing, I just felt it was a bit weak compared to the other two.
All in all, more good and funny stuff. Keep 'em coming.
PoorCynic
PS: I will review "Driftwood" at some point, it just keeps slipping my mind. That post might be a multi-parter, though. Fair warning. -
Responses are fun! by
on 2014-11-13 09:14:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm pretty sure we have an Sgent 'call me Lou' and an Sgent 'don't you dare call me Lou'ise; I think the Doctor is enough to separate the two agents.
Lorelei did end up with very little to do, sadly. Since she's free-to-use, I'll note that she's already had an appearance in 'Ephemerals', so she does have a bit of personality.
Morgan's 'standard PPC uniform' is... well, black. ;) That's about all there is to it. The point is that she's not wearing robes - I think she described it on the Board once as 'What? I put on something orange, what more do you want?'.
The fall of the PPC - two things. No, wait, three. First, I didn't think I'd specified how long the war took. Morgan says 'finally', so it could be years - or decades, even. That said, I think the 'fighting in the corridors' section would be over quite quickly - and that leads me on to the second point:
This is a political speech. Morgan has no requirement to actually tell the truth. If you think about it, all she needs to have under her control at this point is DoSAT and the DoDAEG (and the Committee Room, I guess). The rest of HQ could be a warren of guerilla fighters which the Time Lords dare not enter into. Pretty sure we've 'won' a couple of wars that way recently.
And thirdly: yes, the PPC has access to all the multiverse's technology - but Morgan is a PPC agent. How much do you think she brought with her when she 'took a leave of absence' and got herself elected? If she didn't take a portal generator, at minimum, then she missed out on a great opportunity.
But yes - there's clearly a story in there, and if someone decides they want to write it, I'm not going to stop 'em.
Morgan's change of heart - this was deliberately left vague, because it is quite difficult to picture, but it's basically a combination of 'power corrupts' - whatever the others may think, Morgan sees herself as the de facto President of the Continuity Council, and she also has a gun - and the Ispace Wars triggering all her protective instincts at once. Couple that with Upstairs refusing to admit there's a problem (they get round to it eventually, don't worry), and the stage is set.
Yeah, 'Tea' is a bit weak, and I'm not sure how well it holds up separated from the context of the thread. I might go back to it at some point - throw in a preamble, maybe even (gasp!) give it some purpose in life. I just thought, since it exists, it was better to have it filed and ready, rather than lost in the Board archives.
And: thanks for the reviews! It's always great when someone takes the time to ramble. ;)
hS -
I love it. by
on 2014-11-12 19:32:00 UTC
Link to this
I've been very bad about keeping my agent profiles updated, so if anyone wants to do that with the recent Continuity Council and A Troupe By Any Other Name hijinks, I'd probably be in their debt enough to draw something for them. Just saying.
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Tempting! by
on 2014-11-13 01:44:00 UTC
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Let me finish with the more pressing schoolwork, and then I'll be happy to oblige (if a less busy person hasn't gotten there first, that is).
Although, on that note, I should really finish putting together the Reader's page. I'd love to get that up soon.
Also, does the Continuity Council actually have a page yet? I kept seeing red links on Morgan's page, and nothing comes up when I search it on the wiki. We should really get on that, if it's truly nonexistent.
~DF -
Not massively OOC... by
on 2014-11-12 13:06:00 UTC
Link to this
But the Librarian would never, ever, ever, ever agree with the Notary. In principle. He'd rather be forced to listen to J-Pop for all eternity.
-
Really? Huh. by
on 2014-11-12 13:25:00 UTC
Link to this
[Spoilers ahead for Gallifrey Imminent. I'll leave a space.]
The reason he makes that explicit agreement in Gallifrey Imminent is to set up the fact that he's one of Morgan's two, uh... accomplices? Supporters? In the closed timeline. Which, given that Morgan's being silent, pretty much requires him to agree with the Notary.
The reason he's standing with Morgan, by the way, is that I've always understood him to be one of the more order-aligned Time Lords - one who would actually consider radical methods to make things, well, better.
So: do I have him wrong, and need to excise him from Team Let's-Rule-Everything? Or do I just need to change his response to the Notary? Either is fine by me, just say the word.
hS -
I think you got him backwards. by
on 2014-11-12 16:53:00 UTC
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He gives jack about the rest of the universe - as long as he can pursue his research, the rest of the universe can go to hell for all he cares. Exception: he does feel an obligation towards Gallifrey. Guilt about running away, to be precise, though he'd rather die than admit it.
-
Have finally tweaked this. by
on 2014-11-21 10:53:00 UTC
Link to this
Looks like Morgan just locks him up with the rest of 'em now.
hS -
I understand why, now. by
on 2014-11-13 11:58:00 UTC
Link to this
I got tangled up in my memories of the original RP, where he does sort of agree with the Notary - or, more precisely, when the Reader disagrees that the Council is more intelligent than the rest of HQ, the Librarian quibbles with her.
But that is a fairly key difference. At this point I'm thinking the Librarian would probably 'defect' to Morgan's side at some point - where 'defect' just means 'stop fighting and set up shop in a library back home somewhere'. So I'll excise him from Team Morgan, add in a note during Triumphant, and... come up with some other way to do the Prologue/Epilogue.
hS -
Hold on. by
on 2014-11-12 17:31:00 UTC
Link to this
Was the Librarian on Gallifrey at any point during the Time War?
(I might be writing something, shhh)
~DF
PS: Put two Time Lords in a room, and they will angst. Put half a dozen Time Lords in a room, and they will bicker. This is something I've learned.
PPS: I blame hS for everything. Including the last thousand words of fiction that I've written.
PPPS: Des, I hope you're doing okay. Also, I owe you an email from way-back-when. You can expect it at some point in the next two years, I think... -
Answer! by
on 2014-11-12 17:53:00 UTC
Link to this
No, the Librarian wasn't on Gallifrey during the Time War. That's why he's feeling guilty.
Yes, I'm doing alright. I mean, I'm jumpy, but I think that's justified. -
Okay, good. by
on 2014-11-12 18:04:00 UTC
Link to this
I was wondering, since you mentioned he ran away but his wiki page doesn't reflect any Time War activity. Good to have that sorted out.
Jumpy is understandable. Hope things get better soon; in the meantime, virtual tea is always at least momentarily calming, right? /hands tea/
~DF -
Tea~ by
on 2014-11-12 18:13:00 UTC
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Tea is good. Yes, good.
-Drinks tea- -
However, a tiny nitpick by
on 2014-11-12 12:29:00 UTC
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"Dr. Cornelius seemed to swell up"
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Poofed away. by
on 2014-11-12 13:15:00 UTC
Link to this
Now his eyebrows lower dangerously the first time.
As to your other question - well, he was the Sixteenth Agent, you know. It seems impossible for him not to have known the Originals, though I suppose it's just about doable - it's been established that there wasn't a lot of mingling between departments until relatively recently (witness the poaching that goes on during The Reorganisation). But still... there were only seventeen humanoids (counting Makes-Things) in the PPC at the time. You'd expect they'd at least run into each other at meal-times.
hS -
It was admittedly slightly hypothetical. I have reasons. ;) by
on 2014-11-12 14:12:00 UTC
Link to this
Also the way you capitalise that makes him sound like a future regeneration of the Time Lord known as The Agent, hah. Dunno if that was intentional to play off the Council but it amused me. I'll fire a quick thing at you privately for why I asked, I'm trying to keep some of my projects semi-secret so it's more fun when I reveal stuff I've finally finished. :P
-
Well... by
on 2014-11-12 14:30:00 UTC
Link to this
... he's free-to-use, and I have no further plans for him; if you want to muck about with him, be my guest.
hS -
Yes, the e-mail I was writing felt unnecessary upon thought. by
on 2014-11-12 15:11:00 UTC
Link to this
One thing I'd been going to bring up I noticed upon searching archives I had mentioned to you a couple times before - no need to be redundant! As for the Originals question, it was really just to check if it'd make sense to reference Osbert knowing him in things I plan to write with him (Monty, that is, not Cornelius). Though if it's okay, I might treat that "nobody really interacted with agents in other departments until recently" thing a little flexibly from time to time?
-
Interesting stuff. by
on 2014-11-12 12:16:00 UTC
Link to this
As oversaturated as Time Lords sometimes feel in the PPC of late, I do like how you write this group and their dynamics, and we all know how I like worldbuilding stuff and looks at people's off-mission time, especially nods to the older lot. :P Dr. Cornelius is an interesting sort too, it must've been quite the journey that took him from presumably-distinguished field agent to curating a museum of dead or forgotten continua. Any chance he knew any of the Originals, out of curiosity?
-
OT: Begging leave to report... by
on 2014-11-12 17:00:00 UTC
Link to this
... the number of things the human race has landed a spaceship on just went up by one.
(Venus, Mars, the Moon, Titan, Eros, Itokawa... and 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Nice one, Philae)
hS
(PS: Image obviously courtesy xkcd; the flip book that is today's comic can be viewed in its entirety here. ~hS) -
Philae: the adventure retro-continues. by
on 2014-11-18 12:41:00 UTC
Link to this
Yes, we're still finding out more about what exactly happened during that landing.
This fascinating compilation photo shows Philae in flight on its first approach, and astonishingly, actually shows its footprints from that initial landing. There's also one shot of it hurtling away again, which combined with the previous image, should surely make it possible to calculate its trajectory after bouncing? Of course, gravitational fields around a non-spherical object aren't exactly easy to calculate, so maybe not.
Still, though, fascinating pictures - and you can actually see the lander spinning in the shots!
Also, xkcd's forums provide this. Yeah, thanks, guys, that's not helping.
hS -
And one more update. by
on 2014-11-24 11:41:00 UTC
Link to this
They haven't seen Philae yet in its current landing spot - but they've calculated where it is. No idea yet whether they're aiming to get Rosatta to snap a picture of it, but I at least hope so.
hS -
Re: OT: Begging leave to report... by
on 2014-11-17 01:07:00 UTC
Link to this
I adore the pictures Rosetta and Philae took of each other during separation.
-
Adorable. by
on 2014-11-17 09:10:00 UTC
Link to this
I love the little sequence of shots Rosetta took of Philae as it fell away. Now, y'know, if only it could take one of Philae on the comet...
These might have to be purloined for my website. I have a whole page of spaceships taking photos of other spaceships. It's faintly adorable.
(Though, come to think of it, I really ought to add the Surveyor 3/Apollo 12 meetup...)
hS -
Oops, should'a checked first. by
on 2014-11-17 09:22:00 UTC
Link to this
Philae on (or above) the comet
Yes, there's a shot of Philae-the-tiny-dot flying lazily above the comet after its initial bounce - and of the dust cloud it kicked up. Surely that should make it easier to figure out where it ended up...?
hS -
AHHH... Velociraptors. by
on 2014-11-13 12:26:00 UTC
Link to this
xkcd for the win. Whoooooo!!
-
Yes! by
on 2014-11-13 06:14:00 UTC
Link to this
For SCIENCE!
-
We did it! by
on 2014-11-12 20:57:00 UTC
Link to this
-Phobos -
Hooray for SCIENCE! (nm) by
on 2014-11-12 20:51:00 UTC
Link to this
-
Philae status update. by
on 2014-11-12 20:18:00 UTC
Link to this
Apparently harpoons are tricky. So there's three methods for keeping the lander on its new prize - but the thruster's broken, the harpoons didn't fire, and the gravity's ridiculously low.
Science!At least we're doing it all in the same units this time.
hS
Philae: I landed!
I'm on a comet.
I'm okay and I'm on a comet. -
Next update: we have pictures! by
on 2014-11-13 13:49:00 UTC
Link to this
(Trimmed + shrunk from this)
Apparently Philae is upright (that's good!) and taking pictures (that's brilliant!). And it's found a nice shady spot to nestle down in... shame about those solar panels, eh?
So yeah. We landed on a comet. ^-^ All they need to do now is decide whether to risk firing the harpoons and maybe send it flying again.
Oh, and all that science stuff, I guess.
hS -
More updates. by
on 2014-11-14 15:06:00 UTC
Link to this
Basically... basically Philae's in very genteel trouble. The primary battery had 60 hours life in it, which will run out early tomorrow morning GMT - probably around midnight tonight if you're in America. The secondary batteries need 5 watts* to boot up the lander, and only have ~3 on them, because of the sunlight situation - the landing spot only gives ~1.5 hours of light to the solar panel, rather than the 7 they were after (per 12-hour day)
*Apparently. That doesn't make a lot of sense as a unit, but that's what I'm reading.
They think Philae is sitting with two legs on the ground, and the third - the one in the picture on the last post - slightly raised. They have managed to get most of the science done, and have actually deployed the drill - no results yet that I know of.
The next communication slot is 9-11 tonight GMT (so about, eh, mid-afternoon in America?); they think they'll get through, but it may be the last contact that works. So they're considering whether to try the various things that could shift Philae to get more light on its solar panels.
So yeah. It's not what everyone was hoping for - but at the end of the day, hey! We landed on a comet. That's pretty good going.
hS -
Pretty! (nm) by
on 2014-11-14 13:01:00 UTC
Link to this
-
Cooool. Yay Philae! (nm) by
on 2014-11-12 20:14:00 UTC
Link to this
-
I hereby motion... by
on 2014-11-12 19:04:00 UTC
Link to this
...that we institute International Comet Day.
(And US, can we please replace Columbus Day with that instead, this one's much nicer.)
(Also, disclaimer, the idea was originally Araeph's, not mine.) -
Motion seconded. (nm) by
on 2014-11-13 02:30:00 UTC
Link to this
-
Warlords of Draenor! by
on 2014-11-13 22:46:00 UTC
Link to this
So World of Warcraft has finally come out with its latest expansion! Although I've been on for three and a half hours, so far I've only just gotten my Garrison set up thanks to massive lag, bugs, problems with reloading and having to play Pixelhunt the Quest Giver, made only more difficult by people mounting giant mammoths and standing on top of said Quest Givers. Jerks.
Still, I'm excited! Who's excited?! Thoughts on what will happen?
Considering what happened at the end of Cataclyam, what with Thrall's... wife? Aggra being revealed as pregnant, I think Orc Jesus' kid will have some part to play. Probably gonna get held hostage by the Iron Horde. Other than that though, I don't know what to expect since I've been staying away from spoilers.
So, to all other PPC WoW players, feel free to share your own thoughts about the expansion here! :D -
Re: Warlords of Draenor! by
on 2014-11-15 21:06:00 UTC
Link to this
I don't have it yet, but personally I'm both looking forward to and dreading the level boost. I suck at leveling and I'd love to be able to safely see Pandaria, but I have a feeling it will be more than a little overwhelming.
-
I think you'll be fine. by
on 2014-11-16 15:30:00 UTC
Link to this
The only reason I never got the hang of the Hunter I boosted is because I'm so used to playing my Priest. As long as you practice, you shouldn't have to worry. ;)
And definitely get gold to buy Wisdom of the Four Winds! It makes travel sooo much easier. -
I may not be a Warcraft player... by
on 2014-11-14 14:02:00 UTC
Link to this
...seeing that StarCraft is more my thing, but I think that these animated shorts might interest you.
-
Re: Warlords of Draenor! by
on 2014-11-14 04:19:00 UTC
Link to this
Apart from the lag, bugs, and various other issues, this is the most excited I've been for something in a long time. The lore, the artwork, the music... Everything is just so cool! My only real complaint other than the server issues would be how badly Warlocks got bashed with the nerfbat.
-
You wanna talk nerf? by
on 2014-11-14 19:57:00 UTC
Link to this
My Disc Priest's shields got hit so bad they break after about three seconds. They used to hold up for the full fifteen seconds but now it's terribad. The worst part is that people get mad when the shields don't hold up like they used to. It's not my fault, and there's nothing I can do about it. But all they do is whine that they got nerfed more...
No offense to you, of course.
-
Do YOU like Cards Against Humanity? by
on 2014-11-14 07:36:00 UTC
Link to this
(I'll just, uh, wait for those of you who haven't heard of it to educate yourselves.)
Got that taken care of? Thinks it sounds great? Well, I'm here to plug and take requests for:
The PPC version!
You can test-play it presumably through the CardCast website, but I also know for a fact that you can conveniently plug the deck into Pretend You're Xyzzy, which is the most popular online version of Cards Against Humanity. It has literally every card deck ever conceived, and now you can add a PPC deck to it.
Anyone up for a game sometime? Got any card suggestions? Please leave either type of response as a response to this post. Or contact me if you know where to find me. -
Now I'm having way too much fun with this. by
on 2014-11-18 20:42:00 UTC
Link to this
Having spent pretty much all morning on this, here's what I've come up with (so far):
CALLS:
Agent Supernumerary finally snapped when he saw _____ and _____ in __.
Agent Ilraen's newest morph is _.
_/. Enough said.
Instead of __, FicPsych is now recommending _.
Oh no! A typo has resulted in _!
____ is now a forbidden substance in Headquarters.
Back in my day, _____ was standard on missions.
What did the Postal Department deliver to my RC today?
The entire DIC was called in when _____ met _____ and __.
What helps Agent Supernumerary unwind?
While I went for the kill, my partner distracted the Sue with _.
What do I use to get around Headquarters?
How did Agent Harris get into trouble /this/ time?
The last thing Dafydd remembered was _; then Rivendell was on fire. Again.
[. Non-canon. Recommendation: __.]
No-Drool Videos with ____ and __. Ugh!
What did Agent Trojanhorse pull out of her Bag this time?
__ will now get you _____ on HQ's black market.
"Let's hunt some __."
"No-one tosses _!"
"The closer you are to _, the further you are from _."
Unsurprisingly, using ____ as lube turned out to be a bad idea.
"For Truth, Justice, Freedom, __, and __!"
RESPONSES:
Agent Supernumerary's flask.
A "hord" being blown.
Subjugation.
Ring Child.
Blood Raining Night.
Dumbledore's dragon-blood potency potion.
A half-angle.
Reicheru Ketsuekineko-oni.
Blood as refreshing as a lemonade Capri-Sun.
Nine uncanonical horses.
A pregnant Severus Snape.
Invisible yarn.
Millie and Mr. Socko.
Sesshomaru. Inuyasha's brother. The vampire lord.
A waterfall of gore and violence.
A rock dildo.
Smaug/Bilbo slash.
An unnaturally gestating fetus.
Archir the Emerald.
Mpreg.
A time travel paradox.
A three-year-old istar.
Creepy lap-sitting.
Trivializing the power of the One Ring.
Looking death in the face and quoting canon at it.
Tantaflaf.
Gandalf's cooking.
Sparklypoo.
Catgirls.
Learning Through Pain.
A CAD that speaks in haiku.
Tempting the Ironic Overpower.
Accidentally killing a canon character.
Falling through a plothole into Headquarters.
Sporking your own eyes out.
Jumping into the Fountain of Bleepka.
The Hedgehog Song.
A Pan-Galactic Gargle Bleeprin Blaster.
More angst than the entire Twilight franchise.
Another Glaurunging "My Immortal" copycat.
A subscription to Gardening Monthly.
A bright purple item of explicit nature.
The Laws of Narrative Comedy.
Assbabies.
Vambiolaria.
The Librarian of Unseen University.
The Luggage.
Dubious lube.
Elves in Black Leather.
Harrow the Balrog Sue.
Bob the Sandwich Stu.
Eight hundred forty-five Ypurs.
Self-neuralyzation.
Accidentally neuralyzing your partner.
Attempting to map Headquarters.
The hidden recesses of the PPC Archives.
Bleepka. Lots and lots of Bleepka.
Doing the Duty.
The Marquis de Sod's hat.
Legolas in a Speedo.
KHAAAAAAAAAN!
Going flamethrower-crazy.
Ragna the Urple.
Corvid the Plaid.
The Ring of Sairalindë.
Trying to build a CAD from scratch.
Experiments with Bleeprin and alcohol.
The Mini-Balrog Cookbook.
Thirteen agents and a horse.
More mini-Balrogs than Miss Cam can deal with.
Generic Tenth Walker Sues.
Using the interns as decoys.
A gallon of Bleepto-Dismal.
Intravenous Bleepphine.
Hot Klatchian Bloffee.
Sar-plasm.
Urple paint.
Ye Olde Poisonous Poison.
Galadriel Brand™ Lembas.
Kuswort.
Convenient Cake.
Reasonably priced love.
A hard-boiled egg.
----
Also, we should add agent names, but you probably don't need our help to do that. {= )
~Neshomeh -
More! by
on 2014-11-20 18:56:00 UTC
Link to this
Help, I can't stop. {X D
CALLS:
My team won at Indoor-Rules Quiddich when I hit _____ with __.
We knew we were in trouble when __ was made the new DADA teacher.
That mission was bad, but at least it didn't have __.
The disguise generator malfunctioned, and now I'm stuck as _.
Prrrrp! What has the D.O.R.K.S. turned into now? _.
"Never go in against __ when _____ is on the line!"
How did Alec Troven kill Marrissa Picard this time? __.
__ and _____ turned out to be a surprisingly effective team.
The wand wood was all right, but the core was __.
For some reason, the new department chose __ for its flash patch.
My PPC Cluedo solution: __, with _, in _.
It is unwise to part an agent from their _.
"Your mother was _, and your father smelt of _!"
Why is the rum gone? _.
". Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew."
The Foxglove Official's latest personality sounds like __.
Where will the Sunflower's Witness jump out from next? _.
The Floating Hyacinth was most annoyed when __ was dumped in her tank.
"Everything changed when _____ attacked."
For their next experiment, the DMSE&R will subject Sues to __.
RESPONSES:
A fairy castle in Mirkwood.
The worst. Possible. Thing.
A pervy hobbit-fancier.
J.R.R. Tolkien, spinning in his grave.
A were-penguin Borg Time Lord.
Flaming Denethor.
Jadis in a block of ice.
Radagast on a bunny sled.
Thranduil on a moose.
Three of Lady Galadriel's hairs.
Jennifer Robinson's tea stash.
A titanium spork.
Nancing elves.
A twelve-ton Triceratops.
A twenty-pound sledgehammer.
The Most Holy Hat of GreyLadyBast.
Twincest.
Using the new recruits as target practice.
A Dibbler pie to the face.
A small clan of Nac Mac Feegle.
Acacia's old sandal.
Jay's Rammstein collection.
Vanilla ice cream.
Lavender ladyparts.
Celebrian's silk "garment."
Orally pleasuring the goblin-king.
Ithalond's amputated hands.
Riffing for survival.
Dinos with mammalian reproductive organs.
Dino-sex.
Putting baby in the woodsand to die.
Injetting her with the posion.
The posion.
[BEEEEEEEEEP!]
Alumia the Woodsprite.
Honesah Hoononee Keemo.
Breastfeeding the Fellowship.
Salina Rose the Piratate.
Doing a can-can in the Tomb of the Unknown PPC Agent.
Random Orcs.
Smurly the Garden Gnome.
Talking like Gollum.
A salmon cannon.
Getting hit in the face by a salmon.
MR. ROGERS! MR. ROGERS!
Breaking the Fourth Wall.
----
BTW, I noticed that you changed the one about typos. I don't think the phrasing "What did the typo cause the Word World to do?" really works, because all the answers are basically phrased as nouns, not verbs, so none of them will make grammatical sense. Same problem with "What did I do with the Sue remains?" and, to a lesser extent, "What do agents spend their little bit of free time doing?" I'd rephrase like so:
Oh no! A typo has manifested __ in the Word World!
How did I dispose of the Sue remains?
What do agents spend their little bit of free time on?
We need to organize an actual game soon. ^_^
~Neshomeh -
Yeah, I couldn't think up a good rewording of those. by
on 2014-11-25 20:57:00 UTC
Link to this
Glad you found some more playable rewordings, though! And yes, we do need to set up a game sometime. We could make another post about it and ask people for their availabilities/time zones, and then decide on a time where the optimal amount of people can join in. It's how I've organised these games in the Shakespeare fandom.
-
Related: Have you guys heard of Slash, the card game? by
on 2014-11-17 16:36:00 UTC
Link to this
Slash: Romance Without Boundaries. It works pretty much like Cards Against Humanity, except that the goal is to get the "Matchmaker" to select your card for the funniest 'ship. I got to play a little this weekend, and it's pretty fun. *g*
I fully support a PPC version of Cards Against Humanity, too. If I come up with any good ideas, I'll definitely let you know. ^_^
~Neshomeh -
Sounds kind of like a game my brother and I play. by
on 2014-11-18 23:06:00 UTC
Link to this
Except it's really more of a 'play while waiting in line for popcorn' game than something you sit down to play with other people. On the count of three, you name one person and your friend names another. That's the pairing you get to imagine!
I think our weirdest was Doctor Doofenshmirtz/Dobby. -
Canon... sense... tingling. by
on 2014-11-18 12:51:00 UTC
Link to this
It sounds pretty fun/ny, particularly the 'harder' variant where you have to make a story to go with your ship. The inclusion of a rule that you can discard anyone you've never actually heard of is nice, too.
But... argh. I can accept Aragorn's description as '1/32 Elvish on his father's side' as a joke (much like the entirely accurate description of Treebeard as 'doesn't remember what girl trees look like'). But... Galadriel is listed as 'Queen of Lothlorien'. So, y'know, :(.
(Also, I initially thought the name implied it was all male characters, which would have been rather less fun; versatility is always better!)
hS -
Oh man that looks super fun by
on 2014-11-17 18:52:00 UTC
Link to this
What canons are included in there?
-
Many, many canons. by
on 2014-11-17 19:07:00 UTC
Link to this
I can't think of anything recently popular that I didn't see, and there were plenty of classics and things I didn't recognize, too.
~Neshomeh -
Oh yeah, this looks fun (nm) by
on 2014-11-17 12:39:00 UTC
Link to this
-
My friends got me into this. by
on 2014-11-17 05:29:00 UTC
Link to this
I don't like all the dirty cards, and I try to avoid playing them at all (which leads to a difficult end game, where I may have no clean cards left). This has gotten to the point where my friends refer to a non-dirty answer as a [doctorlit's real name] answer when anyone else does it.
Anyway, I'd totally love to play the PPC version once in a while. I made some card ideas at work today; I'm sure some of them are funny to no one but me, so feel free to ignore ones that aren't amusing. Some of them are more general fandom/fic stuff, so you may not want to include them.
Calls:
Miss MacKinnon no longer allows ___ in the Daycare.
Don't feed the trolls, especially not with __.
Last week, __ got mixed into the ___ at the Cafeteria.
I just read a fic that took ___ and turned that into a Digimon.
We've discovered a new species of __! It's characterized by _.
My partner accidentally noticed __ under Luxury's bed. Now, ze needs .
Going against the OFUM tradition, the new fanfiction university utilized mini-.
I finally managed to fix ___ using lots and lots of red ink.
Trivialized .
: Shows up with greater frequency than Agent Luxury cameos.
Then the Sue said, "This isn't even my final __."
The Ironic Overpower loves _.
There are __ spambots at the RC door! They just tried to sell me __!
All Wiki edits that mentioned __ were quickly reverted.
___ are a sure sign of a high rating on the Reality Dysfunction Index.
Agent Sambar cited __, but the Sunflower's Witness countered that with _.
The mystery behind RC 4095 turned out to be _.
During the Poison Joke fiasco, my partner found zirself _.
While the HQ Pool is myth, __ turned out to be horribly real.
For some reason, my CAD always insists that ___ is 105% out of character.
Less well known than the Mysterious Somebody is the ___ Somebody.
This fanfiction has crossed ___ with __. Terrifyingly, it succeeded.
Angels, demons and _.
The sarplasm on the walls just dripped all over _.
No, not even Mary Sues can be charged for _.
Lady Galadriel's mirror showed me a vision of _.
If you were a Magic: the Gathering card, your abilities would be __ and Protection from ___.
Responses:
Master Who
The long-awaited sequel to JulyFlame: JanuaryFreeze.
Vantablack.
Pokégirls.
Osbert's Raiders of the Lost Arc.
A literal bubonic woodchuck.
An Avril Lavigne/Taylor Swift mashup.
Exactly one half of Tawaki's plovers.
That one obscure fandom no one else ever knows.
An Ugly Animal Friend.
Learning your parents' favorite OTPs.
Popular M/M pairings from seventeenth century British slash fics.
Randomly bursting into showtunes.
Overindulging in fanmix creation.
Someone named Sara or Sarah.
Mongoose adoption.
A unicorn putting its head in your lap. -
Looks like fun! (nm) by
on 2014-11-17 01:03:00 UTC
Link to this
-
I'd be up for a game at any time. (nm) by
on 2014-11-16 02:46:00 UTC
Link to this
-
Woohoo! by
on 2014-11-15 02:26:00 UTC
Link to this
Count me in for a game sometime! It'll be awesome. Here's my ideas for a few cards. I might come up with a few more later, too.
Black Cards:
Character Ruptures are usually caused by _____.
Fangirls will stampede over _.
Everything is better with _.
Agents spend their little bit of free time doing ______.
White Cards:
The Urple Bandits
Miss Cam's Paddle of Canon Accuracy
Extra-Strength Bleeprin Overdoses
Ironic Overpower
!!!11!!!one!!!1
The Mysterious Somebody
DAVD Conspiracy Theory -
This is gonna be great! by
on 2014-11-14 15:32:00 UTC
Link to this
I have some ideas for questions, since we have far less of those.
"This year's HQ-wide Christmas/holiday celebrations will include, for the first time, __"
"Do not meddle in the affairs of _, for they are ___ and quick to anger."
"Who's the star of the latest terrible Evanescence songfic? Why, ____, of course!"
"If anything can drive a Flower absolutely insane, it's _"
"A memorably botched lyric heard on Karaoke Night: 'Read between the lines, what's f*cked up and _'s all right~'"
"Someone tried to set up a fight between ____ and _____. It didn't end well at all." -
Count me in. by
on 2014-11-14 15:11:00 UTC
Link to this
Love playing this game, played it a lot with some non-PPC friends last (academic) year, just haven't found the time to this year (yet). IIRC didn't we have a room/thing on Pretend You're Xyzzy for a small bit last year?
-
*grins eagerly* by
on 2014-11-14 08:47:00 UTC
Link to this
Yes! I love this game since a few people on the IRC conveniently introduced me to it!
I'd love to play a web game sometime. *dances around*
-
It's my b-day! by
on 2014-11-14 16:16:00 UTC
Link to this
Well, i'ts my birthday! And it coincides with Philae landing!
-
Happy belated birthday! by
on 2014-11-16 01:09:00 UTC
Link to this
Hope you had a good one!
-
Very belated happy birthday! by
on 2014-11-15 20:00:00 UTC
Link to this
Have a giant muffin with a candle in it. :D
-
Hmm, truly a collection of months. by
on 2014-11-15 06:12:00 UTC
Link to this
Happy birthday to you. ;)
-July -
Best wishes! by
on 2014-11-15 06:09:00 UTC
Link to this
A tad late, but have a Comet Shard! 'Twas the best I could think of for the occasion. ;)
-
Thanks! I can use it to get Cacturne! (nm) by
on 2014-11-15 07:54:00 UTC
Link to this
-
*throws a wild November birthday party!* (nm) by
on 2014-11-15 01:05:00 UTC
Link to this
-
Happy birthday! by
on 2014-11-14 21:27:00 UTC
Link to this
Have an asteroid model and some pretzels!
-
*tosses cakefetti* by
on 2014-11-14 19:51:00 UTC
Link to this
Birthday song time!
HAPPY HAPPY BRITHDAY TO YOU
MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE
HOPE NOBODY MAKES YOU BLUE
AND YOUR CAKE DOESN'T EXPLODE IN GOO! -
Happy Birthday! by
on 2014-11-14 17:24:00 UTC
Link to this
*showers you with grey and purple confetti* *tosses you a red-wrapped Generic Gift*
-Aila - Happy birthday! by on 2014-11-14 17:14:00 UTC Link to this
-
Happy birthday! by
on 2014-11-14 17:00:00 UTC
Link to this
Many happy returns!
-Offers a gift of good Sam Bodhi tea-
- LotR Elvish motivational posters by on 2014-11-15 00:08:00 UTC Link to this
-
Hmm, interesting. by
on 2014-11-17 11:35:00 UTC
Link to this
The 'phonetic Elvish' appears to be mostly Quenya, and looks... pretty good. I'm not certain you can use ilya to mean 'all' in that grammatical structure - it's closer to 'everything', I think - but At Least It's Not Grelvish(TM) (seriously, ALING might be a really useful acronym to have on hand...). Some examples ('Faithless is he') show that they're not just directly transliterating - it reads something like 'Faithless is one saying farewell when the road becomes more dark'.
Also, some of them are really pretty; I like 'deep roots' particularly, though I refuse to believe those five words translate the whole quote.
("Deep roots reaches frost not into"; yeah, they dropped the first half. It works, though)
hS -
Awesome! Thanks! (nm) by
on 2014-11-16 14:28:00 UTC
Link to this
-
Not-Entirely-Hypothetical Question by
on 2014-11-15 20:57:00 UTC
Link to this
Given the ban on doing missions for religious/Bible-based fanfic, what is the official stance on missions for canons that heavily refer to religious (esp. Biblical) mythology? I'm specifically thinking of the Dresden Files series, but Supernatural comes to mind as another example. I'm even more specifically thinking of this Suefic, featuring a Sue who is supposedly the Biblical Eve.
Now, given that the Sue is the gorgeous, uber-powerful Queen of Sexy, she has very little in common with the actual Biblical figure, and personally I think there is a lot wrong with the Sue no matter what she is. However, I don't want to offend anyone. How do you guys feel about this? -
That shouldn't be a problem by
on 2014-11-16 17:04:00 UTC
Link to this
Both Supernatural and Good Omens have missions so obviously canons which borrow heavily from religion and myths are not off-limits.
However, having an Eve who is nothing like the biblical figure, would only be a charge if religious/mythological characters in DF are generally kept recognisable if and when they appear. (I have only read Storm Front so I don't really know anything about the canon.)
If there have been no instances of religious figures making an appearance in canon, it would be a safer bet to just focus on how the Eve is a typical overpowered Sue with an overblown background and how she is distorting canon rather than on how she doesn't fit the biblical description. -
RE: Question by
on 2014-11-16 14:26:00 UTC
Link to this
Go for it. I have a feeling that some divine retribution should be involved in the assassination, though. *shrug*
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RE: Question by
on 2014-11-16 19:02:00 UTC
Link to this
My guess is that if it trivializes or disrespects ideologically sensitive content, it counts as a charge. And yeah, divine retribution sound like fun - that one incident with Sekhmet was truly fantastic. :D
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It should be okay. (nm) by
on 2014-11-15 21:28:00 UTC
Link to this
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Have y'all seen these before? (Badfics) by
on 2014-11-16 16:23:00 UTC
Link to this
Well, one series- the Ben Chatham Adventures. It showcases the Doctor wildly OOC, the Gary Stu Ben Chatham, grammar issues and... Well, lots of things.
(Link to the TV Tropes ((article?))):
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/TheBenChathamAdventures?from=Main.TheBenChathamAdventures
(Link to the first story):
http://chathamben.blogspot.com/2009/06/caves-of-oblivion-part-1-ben-chatham-is.html - Link to a few other 'stories' by on 2014-11-18 15:39:00 UTC Link to this
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Jesus Christ in a dump truck, he has a wiki by
on 2014-11-18 23:43:00 UTC
Link to this
(help how do I post images here)
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Yep. by
on 2014-11-20 15:26:00 UTC
Link to this
(Umm... dunno, sorry)
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No, thank all the gods. by
on 2014-11-17 13:44:00 UTC
Link to this
And if I were more familiar with Who canon (working through series 2...slowly), I would volunteer to kill/help kill them. As it is...Well, let's just say the Continuity Council has a very important job ahead of it.
-
Omega's funny hat, do we? by
on 2014-11-18 16:00:00 UTC
Link to this
Is it Gallifrey again? Wait - is it Skaro? Just at least tell me it's not Mondas, we've had enough trouble with that place as it is, the Reader's barely had time to breathe since she took it on.
... oh, I see. Not to worry - despite this story apparently claiming to be canonical, we at the CCoGiE (hmm, should have come up with a better acronym... ConGiE? That isn't much better) only deal with problems in the actual canon. Or in HQ. So unless someone steals a TARDIS from this, or recruits a Time Lord, we get to sit it out.
Important note: please do not steal a TARDIS or recruit a Time Lord from this fic. Or any other.
~Morgan, Tigereye Castellan of the Continuity Council of Gallifrey-in-Exile -
I'd like to take this opportunity... by
on 2014-11-20 15:53:00 UTC
Link to this
Eeek! CCoGiE!
Ahem. Due to myself being a Time Lady, I would like to apply for a spot in this council. Will you have me?
On a completely unrelated note, I brought cookies! -
So I open my computer to do some programming... by
on 2014-11-20 19:23:00 UTC
Link to this
...and then I somehow manage to tap into the Continuity Council's communications. I'm not complaining-- if the Council is up to something that might rile up the Daleks again, I want to see it coming-- but this is more than a little weird. Note to self: check the console for any vulnerabilities. This might be two-way. I sure as heck don't want people snooping around in my personal correspondance.
Anyhoo-- Cekarionalavanezya-- I'd stay away from the Council. Before you say anything (and Morgan too if you somehow see this) yeah, I get what the Council is doing. We need to do everything we can so that the Whoniverse's canon is clean and ready for the Homeworld's return. On the other hand, we share HQ with someKaled filthDaleks. These maniacs can't be reasoned with and will always try to one-up us Time Lords if we do anything. Case in point: HQ nearly blew up a while back when the Daleks decided they wanted their own private club too and pulled even more of their kind out of a temporal fold or something.
I know that it's not the Council's fault for this, but their very existence is a destabilizing element for the Daleks-- not that I care for the metal monsters. It boils down to this: either we kick the Daleks out of HQ (something I'd be perfectly happy to do) and let the Council do its thing or we disband the Council and defuse the Dalek-Time Lord tensions here and now. The way I see it, joining the Council is encouraging it, which in turns makes the Daleks antsy, which in turn is bad news for the PPC at large.
I didn't live though an entire [CENSORED] Time War just to have the ancestral enemy ruin everything at the last minute.
-E -
And so this is your plan? by
on 2014-11-21 11:04:00 UTC
Link to this
Your reaction to a rising threat from Dalek elements in the PPC is to propose that we do nothing? Thinking like yours is the precise reason Lord President Rassilon was unable to prosecute the War with full effectiveness! All the Romanan faction's protestations about 'keeping things low key' and 'attempting to negotiate a ceasefire' achieved was to give the Daleks time to arm themselves and recruit allies among those just as bitter about Time Lord supremacy as themselves.
In HQ or on the Homeworld, Time Lords need guidance. Without firm hands at the console, we will simply lapse into passive observation once more. Your strategy, rather than preventing the Daleks from acting, would simply make their eventual betrayal of the PPC all the more devastating.
-Notary Antrilovorasilendar, Spinel Promotor of the Continuity Council of Gallifrey-in-Exile
[[With apologies to Wobbles fornickingborrowing her. She just had something to say... ~hS]] -
Both of you, seriously: cut it out. by
on 2014-11-21 11:11:00 UTC
Link to this
Part of my job as Tigereye Castellan is to look out for threats to the Continuity Council, and PPC Time Lords in general. I've studied Fearn and Omicron's files extensively (oh, stars, I still sound like her - someone hit me, please), and I can safely say that they aren't a direct threat to HQ.
Yes, I said 'direct', and yes, it's true that the Human Factor doesn't prevent them making the same ridiculous plans that, y'know, humans make. But they are not genocidal maniacs any more - and just like HQ's vampires, illithids, and other canonically-sociopathic species, I'm pretty sure the DIA is keeping a close eye on them to make sure they don't revert.
Of course, given that the DIA is apparently fine with blatant racism in its operatives, maybe that's not saying as much as it should be...
~M~
[[Apologies if I've got the Guardsman in the wrong department there? ~hS]] -
[Private Message] by
on 2014-11-21 19:35:00 UTC
Link to this
Dear Tigereye Castellan of the Continuity Council of Gallifrey in Exile,
I am Naya'Keegan of the Department of Internal Affairs, Special Response division and also Emiranlanoamar's (aka the Guardsman) partner. I have just seen this thread on my newsfeed and I'd like to address your concerns with the racist/speciesist remarks my partner has said.
First of all, I apologize if any of his comments have offended you. He is known in the division for his general attitude about agents that are canonically lawful/neutral/chaotic evil but rest assured that the rest of the DIA is vehemently against such prejudices and that he has already been warned about his attitude. From my personal experience, he has never let his prejudices interfere with his Duty and it is very unlikely that they ever will.
Secondly, he has made quite a bit of progress since coming to HQ and he is still learning how not to see everything in terms of threat/not threat. He takes HQ's security very seriously but I think that being paranoid is a basic part of him-- but that is no excuse for speciesism, of course.
Lastly, I don't think he even knew that Fearn and Omicron have the Human Factor in them. He did hear of it but thought it was just a rumour. I will talk to him later today and try to drive this point home.
If you'd like to discuss this in person, feel free to drop by our quarters anytime. Just ask for me at the DIA's reception desk and I'll go and meet you there to clear you through.
Thank you for your time,
Naya'Keegan vas Iktomi -
Popcorn by
on 2014-11-21 13:39:00 UTC
Link to this
Because, seriously, this is really amusing. Pass the popcorn, please.
And no, Guardsman's in DIO, not DIA.
~Agent Desdendelle, who totally didn't get someone else to hack into the ConCoun comms -
Hmm. I think that's technically the Reader's remit? by
on 2014-11-20 18:34:00 UTC
Link to this
On checking my paperwork -- burning stars, I sound like the Notary -- I've remembered that she's currently taking on double duty as the Citrine Theorist and the Onyx Monitor. Since the Onyx Monitor's duties include observing new Time Lord recruits, I think it's clear that requests to join the Council go through her as well.
... that's never going to fly, is it? Oh, well. We're pretty low on colours, actually - mostly just black and white to go. Black is the aforementioned Monitor - watching Time Lords in badfics, consulting on their recruitment, and observing new recruits in the PPC. White... I guess we could do with someone to watch over trends in fandom and fanfic? I don't know. Anyone got any ideas? And Reader - you want to give up either of your spots?
~M~ -
I would like to note... by
on 2014-11-19 15:47:00 UTC
Link to this
... that in this case you should have a word or seven with one Notary, for obvious reasons.
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Re: Acronyms by
on 2014-11-19 08:55:00 UTC
Link to this
Morgan, if you want to get us an acronym, you'd better move fast. I'm pretty sure the Notary's putting together a piece of paper that says it's too undignified for the Continuity Council &c to be abbreviated, and she's looking smug enough that I--okay, we, we're pretty sure she may have found a way--okay, it's not me, it's Fish, but he seems pretty sure that she's probably found a way to get the motion passed before we realize what it is. Only I guess that's failing now. Hm.
Still. Deciding on an acronym sounds like a good idea. What about CounCon? Since ConCoun sounds silly?
(Mind you, that's fairly reminiscent of Cancun. Maybe not. ContCouncil?)
...seconding the important note, too. Leave TARDISes where you found them, and do not recruit Time Lords unless absolutely necessary. I've got enough to deal with; we all do (well, most of us...)
-R -
I'll volunteer! by
on 2014-11-18 15:37:00 UTC
Link to this
Anybody else joining me?
Also, did you see the part about how the author insists the Stu is canon? -
Where's that part? by
on 2014-11-20 08:40:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm curious now - but not curious enough to read the whole thing.
hS -
TV Tropes (nm) by
on 2014-11-20 15:27:00 UTC
Link to this
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I'm torn. by
on 2014-11-19 20:23:00 UTC
Link to this
On the one hand, I'd love to help. On the other, I don't have permission yet and am nowhere near ready.
To be honest, I'm surprised we don't see more authors insisting their Sue/Stu is canon. It's always fun to read their arguments why, though. -
Agreed in all aspects! by
on 2014-11-20 15:32:00 UTC
Link to this
It's alright! *pats* Don't tear yourself apart... We'd miss you. :P
Also, I'm a huge fan of reading (and subsequently laughing at) Suethor's arguments.
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Beta Search by
on 2014-11-18 03:31:00 UTC
Link to this
I am currently working on a rewrite of the first few chapters of my Bakugan/Pokémon crossover fic The Vexos Chronicles. However, one of my betas, PoorCynic, has recently told me that he would not be able to continue as a beta due to Real Life and other issues. As eatpraylove (my other beta) and I ofttimes need the input of a third person at certain impasses, I am now looking for a new person to join our team and help with both this rewrite and beyond. If you are good at resolving issues of narrative pacing (i.e., whether a story is lagging or going too fast) and are willing to learn a new canon, please reply or e-mail me.
Given that the Bakugan fandom does not seem to be that big, I will not be requiring that you be a fan of it (though being a Bakugan fan would definitely be a big plus). However, I do ask that you be willing to learn. As eatpraylove can attest, you will not need to come in with extensive canon knowledge, and I'll try to point you to any relevant background information that you might need.
However, knowledge of Pokémon (up to at least Generation IV (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum)) is required: animeverse preferred, but gamesverse will work as well.
And as aforesaid, I’ll need someone who can help with pacing problems.
Interested? Please reply or email me.
And if you happen to know someone outside of the Board who may be able to help, please feel free to send him or her my way.
Thanks in advance! -
I'd be willing to do it. by
on 2014-11-18 13:01:00 UTC
Link to this
But there will be times where I'm bogged down by assignments and exams, such is the life of a student I'm afraid.
Storme Hawk -
The life of a lawyer is no easier by
on 2014-11-19 01:05:00 UTC
Link to this
so you might not be too bombarded with assignments from me once the rewriting part is over.
That said, are you familiar with Bakugan? I want to know how much I need to tell you. -
Not much by
on 2014-11-19 16:47:00 UTC
Link to this
but I'm willing to go through the entire wiki to find out stuff about it if need be.
-
OK then. by
on 2014-11-19 20:51:00 UTC
Link to this
I already have a link to my e-mail address in the first post (but here it is again:sonofheaven176@gmail.com), so please e-mail me, and I'll get back to you with a synopsis of my fic.
Thanks.
-
Quick minor plug by
on 2014-11-18 06:29:00 UTC
Link to this
Dear Special Snowflake, or the result of me wandering through the Circle of Lemmings' LotR section and getting all kinds of furious.
All Sues used in this are real Circle Sues, with names slightly changed.
Moral of the story: do your friggin' research. -
That made me smile. by
on 2014-11-20 08:47:00 UTC
Link to this
Good job!
Incidentally, I did something similar to this- They Think They're Wonderful.
In which I mocked the heck out of Doctor Who cliches. Because, as I mentioned before, about half of the fanfics on ff.net are 'OC meets Doctor'.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10837402/1/They-Think-They-re-Wonderful -
Oh man this is too good by
on 2014-11-20 03:08:00 UTC
Link to this
This is great, Lily. Are you planning on expanding at any point to other canons, or sticking to LOTR? Or do you have no plan beyond 'let's have some fun with these terrible Circle fics'?
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Awesome! by
on 2014-11-18 15:22:00 UTC
Link to this
Do more, do more! I have no idea who Penneth Lamaeniel is, but I like her style! Is she in the Silmarillion? (Totally heard Julie Roberts in my head when I read it, btw)
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Nah, she's mine. by
on 2014-11-18 19:58:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm thinking of continuing her responses to Sue ordeals every time I unwisely overexpose myself to the Circle too long.
Originally it was going to fall under the premise that Legolas was getting too many love letters from all the Legolusting Sues out there, and thus had roped one of the servants into writing responses to his fanmail, and said servant started getting annoyed at the Sues after the tenth one or so and started acting snarky to them. But then I thought just straying back to its original inspiration, That Bad Advice would be more entertaining in the long run. -
Oh hey there Anneliese. by
on 2014-11-18 13:00:00 UTC
Link to this
I see your backstory is still as messed-up as ever. Don't worry, the Society of Angry PPC Eldar will be along any
daymonthyear now to get those nasty Silmarilli out of your blood. Permanently.
Nice story. ^_^ I'm definitely picturing Penneth as a friend of my own Parmiel; rather snarkier, though.
hS -
Re: plug by
on 2014-11-18 07:40:00 UTC
Link to this
I quite enjoyed that! It's a very different sort of sporking, and I like how it turned out.
All the links within the narrative are especially nice for those of us, like me, who can't hold all the Tolkien knowledge together in our brains. I also very much appreciated the link to Lamarckian "genetics" in the first response. Guess that author didn't hit high school bio yet. :|
I think what I like best about this approach is that it really is explicitly educational. If the original authors encounter this, they will actually be pointed towards the references they need to improve. It makes this story a bit more high class and constructive than the average spork.
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I apologize in advance for this. Unbetad. by
on 2014-11-18 19:09:00 UTC
Link to this
"Back!" Vania called as she stepped through the portal. "The HFA staff dude was way too excited to give these Muggle-use wands away, so I'm pretty sure they're going to cause some horrible problem at the worst possible time!"
"So, the same as everything else we use on missions, then."
"Oh, yes."
"At least we're being consistent, then." Doc grabbed all seven Harry Potter novels and began storing them in various pockets.
"Oh, you found a fish for the mini! Where'd you get that?"
"What?" Doc glanced towards the glow of their mini-Hound of the Baskervilles, which was gnawing on a long, greenish fish. "Oh. No, I didn't notice he had that."
"Ah. 'Cause he's getting fish blood all over the carpet."
"Sorry, Vania. I really don't know where he got that!"
"Eh, that's all right. It's been a while since a capillary towel had a cameo, anyway. We'll get one when we get back."
* * *
Doc and Vania tracked two characters down a hallway in Hogwarts, followed by a mini-Aragog that had been created.
"A Leanne luster!" whispered Vania. "Got to give points for writing something original."
"Let's not call it 'lust' for underage schoolgirls," Doc muttered, writing down charges.
"Still, though, most people don't even know her name! She's just 'that-girl-who-was-walking-next-to-Katie-when-she-got-cursed.' Whoa! Ouch."
Leanne had just been smacked in the face with a fish.
"I wasn't watching the Words. What caused that, Doc?"
"I didn't catch it. let me read it over again."
While he was doing so, Vania continued watching the students and frowned. Leanne was rubbing her nose, and the Sue had grasped her by the shoulders and was checking her face for injuries. "Weird. Sues don't usually notice when their typos make stuff like that happen."
"I'm not seeing whe—AUGH!" Doc jumped and flinched as a cold, wet somethingflopped against the side of his neck.
Vania bent down and picked up the flopping fish. "It's a salmon . . ." she shrugged.
The Sue called out in her off-timber voice. "What are you doing there? Spying on us?"
"Great. Stupid fish." Doc turned back to the first page of charges. "Carline Amanda Roberts, you are charged with—Ah, gosh darn it!" he yelled as a wet fish slapped the papers out of his hand and stuck them together. The mini-Aragog seized it and sunk its mandibles into the fish's side.
Vania smirked. "'Gosh darn it?' Really?"
The hallway began to fill with the sound of splatters as fish began to pelt the bricks from . . . no clear source.
"Why are you doing this?" Doc asked the Sue.
"Don't look at me! My story did NOT include FISH RAIN."
"Come on!" Leanne shouted over the splats. "The Room of Requirement!"
"But you shouldn't know about that until sixth year!"
"Bugger off! I'm finally the main character in a fanfiction, and I'm milking it for all it's worth!"
* * *
As the four human characters had mutually needed a room with no fish as they approached the door to the Room of Requirement, that is exactly where they found themselves. (The mini-Aragog hadn't finished draining its fish dry yet, or it might have caused a problem.)
Yes, they found themselves in a tiny room with no fish. For about two seconds, before the salmon onslaught began again.
"They're coming from everywhere and nowhere!" Carline whined, as the spider scaled the wall behind her. Leanne was deflecting as many as she could with her wand; the agents' wands were, as predicted, useless.
"You're a Sue! Do with the plotholes or something!" Vania demanded.
"Huh? Oh, right!" Carline waved her arms and fingers in a swooshy motion. Some of the salmon began to disappear before they hit anyone. "Nice!" cried Carline.
But then, the salmon began bouncing between the shimmers in the air, ultimately making the small space even more filled with fish than before.
"Making it worse!" Doc warned.
"Ugh! Whatever." Carline threw up her hands, and the plotholes vanished. Some of the fish were tossed up into the air and landed in a web the mini-Aragog had spun.
"Yesssss, Precioussssss," the spider hissed as it closed its appendages around the flopping animal. "Tasssssty fishesssss!"
The PPC agents looked at each other. Doc turned to Carline. "For the first time in history, the PPC is requesting for you to make more typos."
Carline quirked her head. "Typos?" She glanced at her erstwhile girlfriend. "Like, Leann?"
A new mini-Aragog appeared, and immediately started to crawl up to its comrade's web.
"Whoa," said Carline. "I didn't know I could do that."
"More! Hurry!" Leanne called. "We're up to our ankles in fish!"
"And up to our noses and fish smell," Doc added.
"Uh. Dumbledoor? Minstery of Magic . . . Avada Cadaver!"
All the miniature Acromantulas set to work strining the room with webbing. But it could only last for so long; soon, the spiders' webs began to bulge with weight, their bellies began to fill, the humans found the salmon reaching above their wastes. Leanne was trying to reach the door, trying to blast through the thickness of the fish pile with her wand in order to walk.
"We have to portal back to HQ!" Vania said.
"It won't work," said Doc, shaking his head. "This is probably where the mini-Hound's fish came from."
"Oh," Vania said quietly. She had finally managed to get the RA from her pocket above the line of sea life. "It's totally fried by all the dampness, anyway."
Suddenly, a blue doorway opened into the room. Fish began to spill out through the new entrance.
"We're saved!" Vania cried. She tried to jump for joy, but failed under the weight of the fish surrounding her legs. "SpecOps is here!"
"You are not needing Special Operations," Séverine said, stepping over the fish to show an army of agents bearing the same orange honeycombed fungus flashpatch. "the Cafeteria is here, and I understand we will all be having seafood this week." -
I'll have some of the salmons. by
on 2014-11-22 13:01:00 UTC
Link to this
Otak-otak salmons, salmon keropok lekors, salmon sandwiches, salmon masak belacans, salmon head in curry, the possibilities...
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And don't forget: the fish sticks! (nm) by
on 2014-11-22 13:37:00 UTC
Link to this
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Oh wow. This. Yes. {X D by
on 2014-11-20 18:21:00 UTC
Link to this
Best new thing in the world. Thank you for sharing this with us and making it a Thing That Happened in the PPC. ^_^
*adds "A salmon cannon" to her new list of Cards Against HQ suggestions*
~Neshomeh -
The salmon cannon is legit the best thing ever. by
on 2014-11-21 01:29:00 UTC
Link to this
I died of laughter the first time I watched it, and I've seen it three times since, so you guys are all talking to a zombie now.
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What. I don't... what. by
on 2014-11-20 08:47:00 UTC
Link to this
[Watches video]
WHAT.
hS -
This is awesome! by
on 2014-11-20 03:03:00 UTC
Link to this
Do you have any plans for Carline? Because I'd like to see more of her, she seems fun. Or at least, not mind-aching the way some Sues are.
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Did I accidentally make an interesting Sue? by
on 2014-11-20 04:59:00 UTC
Link to this
Man, Sues are hard to write!
I hadn't thought about it up until now. Killing her does seem a little much after all I just put her through, doesn't it?
Since she's familiar with a minor character like Leanne, she must have fairly in-depth canon knowledge. That could be a decent reason for the Flowers to try reforming her. Maybe her schtick is that she considers herself a hipster-luster, who goes after characters most fans don't know?
Gosh! I just designed a new character without even realizing it. Thanks, firemagic! So to answer your question, yes! I guess you will be seeing more of her! -
She is a Pretty Neat Character by
on 2014-11-20 17:42:00 UTC
Link to this
Most of the time when we have Sue agents, they tone down their abilities, so it is kind of neat to think of an agent that just embraces her Sue-ness and summons legions of minies to do her work.
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Yes, bring her back! by
on 2014-11-20 13:13:00 UTC
Link to this
Her special emphasis on minor characters caught my eye- I admittedly went 'who?' when I saw Leanne's name because I've never seen her in a badfic (or mockup of a badfic) and it didn't occur to me you actually included such a minor character because they never get used in badfic. I thought the Sue picked the name for a random OC.
Oh fanfiction, what have you done to my brain? -
Confession to make: by
on 2014-11-20 13:21:00 UTC
Link to this
I didn't remember her either. Initially, I was thinking, who doesn't get to show up much in fics? How about Ernie Macmillan? And I went to the Potter Wiki to check my spelling (which had been wrong), but when I got there, in the recent changes list was a page named "Isabella Laughland." (Which is a great last name!) And I went, Oh! Someone even more obscure! Except she was an actor, not a character; the actor who played Leanne. And then I was like, Wait. Who's Leanne? And that's how I found an even more less well-known character than Ernie.
Yeah, this probably isn't nearly as interesting as I thought it was. -
*cheers* I liked her too! (nm) by
on 2014-11-20 05:31:00 UTC
Link to this
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Haha, I love it! :D (nm) by
on 2014-11-19 20:55:00 UTC
Link to this
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PFFFFF by
on 2014-11-19 15:05:00 UTC
Link to this
I want to have a salmon cannon show up in one of my missions now. XD
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Do it! It's fun! (nm) by
on 2014-11-20 04:49:00 UTC
Link to this
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Nice! *gives cake* (nm) by
on 2014-11-19 12:39:00 UTC
Link to this
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LOL, this is great! by
on 2014-11-18 23:47:00 UTC
Link to this
Is this a preview of another mission or just something silly you thought of from that John Oliver vid? Either way, I LOL'd
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Just a silly something. by
on 2014-11-19 02:55:00 UTC
Link to this
The crossover bit at the end of the video got me thinking, "Well, why not the PPC, too? And what if it interrupted a mission? And maybe the Sue noticed . . ."
I'm glad you and DawnFire enjoyed it so much!
—doctorlit, stealing other people's entire routines and using them as a mere punchline. -
Perfection. (nm) by
on 2014-11-18 22:56:00 UTC
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Small-ish Plug by
on 2014-11-19 09:07:00 UTC
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For those Pokemon fans who use Tumblr, my blog can be fond here http://november14-ppc.tumblr.com/
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BREAKING NEWS by
on 2014-11-19 12:05:00 UTC
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This blog has been discontinued due to various issues.
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Looking for not-quite-beta(s) by
on 2014-11-19 10:48:00 UTC
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Hey all.
I've got an original world I've gone back to trying to develop. A lot of is pretty sketchy and incomplete, though, and while I have the beginnings of some working notes for it, it also needs a lot of work--plot, characters, fleshing out the world, all of it.
I've talked to several of my very close friends about it at length, but I'd like a pair--or multiple pairs--of unspoiled and more objective eyes and thoughts, to tell me where I need to work on more, if I'm being incredibly stupid, what is too heavy-handed or too obscure, etc. I don't have actual writing to be beta'd yet and won't for a long time, but doubtless I could use thoughtful eyes on the worldbuilding so I can do it thoroughly and carefully. I'm also looking for someone who can tell me if it's too derivative; I will note that a lot of this I had thought up long before I read certain other sources of inspiration, and some things will have similarities no matter what I do, but I do very much want that check just as much as general sanity-checks and suggestions on where I need to develop more.
The world is approximately medium medieval (more or less medieval, anyway) fantasy--medium in that it is not exactly low-key to no magic, but it isn't setting volcanoes on fire or grand quests or anything--hopefully with a lot of humor (and romance, I'm a sucker) mixed with intrigue, assassinations, and war. I'm definitely looking at varying influences on different areas and would appreciate having some input on how not to end up accidentally stereotyping that. Oh, and bards. Bards are important in this universe.
Let me know if you're interested, and a contact email would be nice to have, too, as I don't really know what I'm looking for yet. -
Hey! by
on 2014-11-20 03:00:00 UTC
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I'd love to help out. I adore fantasy type worlds. Will you be taking any cues from Codex Alera in this world, bychance?
My email's at firemagic@cox.net, if you still need not-quite-betas. -
Hmmm... Okay by
on 2014-11-20 01:45:00 UTC
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Research is eating my schedule like popcorn and my time management skills suck balls, but eh, I'll be willing to help anyway once I get the chance. My email is skarmorysilver (at) gmail (dot) com, with punctuation plugged in as needed.
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I'll help. by
on 2014-11-19 20:27:00 UTC
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I finally got free of the worst of school assignments, so I'd be glad to help out with this.
Email is: mkkeener@mail.com -
Sure! by
on 2014-11-19 16:54:00 UTC
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Although as I've said I am currently a bit bogged down by assignments, but when I have a bit of spare time I'll take a look at anything you've got.
my email's thestormehawkATgmailDOTcom -
I can take a look. by
on 2014-11-19 13:25:00 UTC
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Might help me distract myself from RL. Mail is sur DOT nhm AT gmail DOT com.
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I can help! by
on 2014-11-19 12:06:00 UTC
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As a huge fantasy fan, I think I'm qualified to help build another one. (Also, yay, bards are important for once!)
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This is my email, btw ^^ (nm) by
on 2014-11-19 12:07:00 UTC
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Wednesday Pluggage: PPC: Driftwood mission by
on 2014-11-20 09:08:00 UTC
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Wait... blarg, what day it is? Okay, looks like it's still Wednesday out over the Pacific, so I haven't missed it.
PPC: Driftwood - Thorin's Little Princess
In which simply adding more abilities is seen not to substitute for actually making use of them.
Not taking requests this week; next chapter is an Interlude, followed by a Christmas break.
Reviews and comments are always welcome - as are typo catches! There's usually a couple in there...
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Hey, Naergondir showed up! by
on 2014-11-20 22:29:00 UTC
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On the phone, still, but super neat to see him! Given that Dawn and I are working on the mission that spurs him and Gurnirel to join SIELU, it's pretty entertaining.
Other than that, very nicely done. There was a bit that was confusingly worded:
"Um... that if she had any character at all she'd be a flaming Suvian?"
I think you meant "she wouldn't be a flaming Suvian", since Suvians lack character, which Kaitlyn and Selene pointed out later.
Also there's the paragraph after "Fire rained down on Dale" which needs capitalisation, and I think you're also missing a couple dashes between the two paragraphs in general.
But that's all that I found weird. I especially liked the constructive criticism at the end; clearly this fic had a lot more potential. -
Yep! by
on 2014-11-21 08:04:00 UTC
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I needed a SIELU agent who wasn't Ramwe-the-Inscrutible, and remembered Dawn had mentioned having a couple of Caliquendi in there... it took me longer than I expected to track down the names, though (particularly since, er, they were in like the second thread down the Board at the time...)
The 'flaming Suvian' thing - they actually said it right. She has literally no character - no lusting, no hating, no nothing. She's nothing more than a collection of traits. Without a personality to enable actual canon-warping behaviour, she doesn't really qualify as a Suvian in my view. Seriously - everyone ignored her most of the time. It's really weird.
The thing with that 'the scene changed' double paragraph is intentional; it's an abrupt scene changed marked by a broken paragraph. That said, since two people have now flagged it up, I guess I'll add some sort of divider between them.
Thanks for the review!
hS -
Excellent work! by
on 2014-11-20 13:06:00 UTC
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Just one random paragraph break spotted:
Fire rained down on Dale. The building in front of Kaitlyn crashed down, and she yelped, throwing herself back. A spark caught in her beard, spreading rapidly, and she beat at it frantically before
the scene changed, and they were suddenly in the darkness of Bag End, watching Evelynn wake with a start. The fire was gone, but Kaitlyn still ran her fingers through her beard mournfully. "It's never going to be the same again," she said.
Anyway, I enjoyed this just as much as the others, if not more. This new mission format was interesting, and I was cracking up by the end when poor Kaitlyn was speaking in voices like overly-urple similes.
And the Andalite/Animorph mixup reminded me do much of my mom. She could never keep the two straight despite constant 'Animorph are animal morphers' reminders from me. So I found that extremely amusing.
Nice touch, having the Sue's passiveness becoming her downfall.
10/10 would read again. -
Just read it. And I loved it, too. by
on 2014-11-20 09:37:00 UTC
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Nothing more to say here.
I don't actually read LotR (*ducks to avoid flying objects*) so I just have to pick up on what these fics are about.