Feb 2015 Archive, part c

Has anyone heard from Herr Wozzeck lately?

I've been quite busy the last week and a bit, so I haven't got around to checking that email account at all recently. Thankfully I've got most of the stuff that was keeping me busy (applications for summer placements) out of the way now, so providing virgin don't completely turn my internet off I should be back to normal by next week.

I'll take a look now, although I can't promise how much I can do straight away.

Once again, sorry.

Storme Hawk

"But what's on your mind is... interesting," said Owen as he tried to keep a straight face. "Anything you want to share, Rookie? Spit it out, don't be shy."

Victoria glanced from the increasingly nervous Luxray to the not-quite-sure-what-was-going-on Jolteon. She noticed how Zeb looked at Maxwell and put two and two together. The Gardevoir put a hand over her mouth to try and conceal her smile.

Maxwell, completely oblivious to what was going on, shrugged and leaned closer to Zeb. "You feeling all right, man? You look weird. Can I help you or anything?"

- - -

((I don't mind at all. This is hysterical. ))

The AU in which Katniss wins and Peeta dies, and the revolution never happens, and the Hunger Games go on, is interesting. What did President Coin do when she never got her Mockingjay? What happened to President Snow, who was dying then, and who's leading Panem now? How is Katniss doing? Prim? But the author seems to have completely ignored the idea of 25 years having passed since then, and completely ignored the existence of both Katniss and District 13.

The premise for the fic--that the tributes for the 100th Hunger Games would be chosen from among the disabled--doesn't stand up so well. The 100th Hunger Games is a big anniversary; a theme of "Rebels against the Capital are helpless" makes sense, but choosing exclusively disabled tributes doesn't. And the idea that disabled people are the opposite of Victors is nonsensical; many of the Victors are disabled people. If you want to make the point that "rebels are helpless", maybe you'd want to reap from nineteen-year-olds who think they're safe. I dunno. But choosing disabled people isn't something the Capital would do--not out of their non-existent compassion, but simply because they wouldn't see it as glamorous enough to make a good show.

Apparently my nonexistent agents don’t know all the tiny details.

What did canonically happen when handicapped kids were drawn? Was the Capitol government so considerate to excuse them from the Reaping? In case this was never addressed in the books, we need to determine how evil the Capitol actually was. Depending on the result, "sending handicapped people into the Hunger Games as tributes" may not be a legitimate charge.

The Snowdrop, Head of Department, Uncanonical Department of Inaccuracies

((Sorry, I didn’t see this problem earlier. HG))

I only detected one error:
derailing the canon due said killing
I believe that you meant "due to said killing"?

I had originally planned to ask you if you've received the email I sent you yesterday, but it seems that you'll be busy for quite a while. Good luck with your dissertation defense. (BTW, what is a dissertation defense?!

Overall, good job. Letting most of the the characters get assimilated back into canon was a nice idea, especially considering they didn't really do much. I must say, I'm impressed the fic recognized that albinos have vision problems. But, blunde hair? Bwzuh?

A few nitpicks:

1) “You don’t see me that much after all, don’t you?” The second "don't" should be "do".

2) “Geez, at least this author’s admitting that they’re a moron.” Straying into bashing territory here.

3) A young man with ashy blonde hair That should be "blond", not "blonde".

4) If it weren’t for the state of him, I’d be getting a bulge in my pants right now,” he whispered. And then a moment later he's embarrassed by E.V.L. asking if he likes Peeta. Um, consistency? Also... well, maybe there's a more tactful way to phrase that? Unless Rayner really doesn't care about making references like that, but it just struck me as unnecessarily crass.

They never actually existed. There was a thread attempting to create them, and someone (Phobos?) put all the ideas from it up on the Wiki, but the concept never really got off the ground.

So if you're volunteering to shake out the problems with it... well, here goes:

The purpose of the houses (as opposed to just having people ask for a Big Sib) is to let folks focus their search. So if your main reason for being in the PPC is to talk in the IRC, say, then you want a Big Sib who can help with that, rather than, say, me, who'll go 'I'unno'.

So, houses. The list as it currently stands, ignoring the two 'I've come up with a name and want to be special' entries, is:

-PPC stuff
-Writing
-Concrit
-Fandom
-The PPC community

That's a fairly decent breakdown of what the PPC does, actually. I might be tempted to combine Writing and Concrit, since they're covering mostly the same ground (ie, 'how to write'), and I'd probably be tempted to add a house for RPs, since they come up quite frequently, but it's decent.

But... I'm not sure we're really divided that strongly. People don't join the PPC just to talk about fandom (I hope); they join it because they like the stories, and maybe they want to write as well, and and and. So the houses are artificial lines, and I think they might be too strong.

They also don't help with the 'hS knows nothing about the IRC' problem; what if someone signs up to whatever I'm in because they're really into that, and then wants to go into the IRC? I can't offer a single bit of advice.

Furthermore -- which house would I, for instance, be in? I write heaps. I'm The Walking Encyclopaedia of the PPC. I write decent Quenya and have a site for that. So should I be in Kind Word and a Grave, Darjeeling, or Parmandili? Or all three, and render the concept superfluous?

---

So much for 'pointing out problems'. How about some solutions, huh, hS? Gods of all stars, all you ever do is whinge! Do you think just because you've been here since before mankind awoke you can just put everyone down? Be constructive for once, ya grumpy old elf!

Well, never fear, me: I do have some suggestions.

-I already said I'd suggest rejigging the houses. I say we merge to make Grave and a Two-by-Four (or whatever), delete 'Fruitbat' and 'Tryforce Area', and consider a new house for RPs.

-EITHER:
--All Big Sibs should have a broad understanding of all the houses: that is, they should be able to write, should have a decent knowledge of the PPC, and know how to use the Board and the IRC. They then set up shop in the house that they focus most on. Basically, a Big Sib can answer any question a Little Sib will ask; the houses are basically so's you have something in common to chat about.
-OR:
--Big Sibs in each house should post their names on the Wiki page. They should then be willing to consult/answer questions outside another Big Sib's area. So if a Parmandili Little Sib wants to ask about the IRC, their Big Sib can direct them to a listed Skull Goblet Big Sib (or ask for them). The best way to do this is probably through Wiki talk pages. The main problem with this version is it's liable to break down as people leave.

-I volunteer to make house crests/badges a la Plort, once there's a finalised list. Hopefully that'll stop me picking on me. (I'm not sure this counts as a suggestion...)

hS

Actually, last summer I considered asking whether this is still a thing and whether newbies should be encouraged to try and find a big sib.

But then I decided that I’m not the right person to bring it up. I definitely fall under "Folk who neither need a Big Sib nor feel qualified to be one". Hieronymus the hermit doesn’t need no family.

HG

He crouched until his face was level with Maxwell’s. “Isn’t that a human physician?”
He took another swig, then shrugged. “I’m looking for my no-good partner. Have you seen him? Coat like mine, only shabbier, ginger goatee, brain full of nonsense?”

Here's a mailto link.

Especially the ones that anyone can access. Why does bad music happen? Why does bad drawing happen? Why does bad dance happen?

The answer is gonna be pretty much the same. There have been plenty of good answers so far, but I wanna touch on a couple aspects that haven't been discussed so much:

1. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Not everyone can be strong at writing/singing/underwater basket-weaving. This does not make those people stupid or lazy, it just means their talents lie elsewhere.

2. Not everyone has access to the same level of encouragement or instruction in their art. To use a personal example, my parents read to me every night as a kid—specifically, they would read to me from books that were more advanced than I could yet read myself, so I was exposed to things "above my grade." Naturally, when I started writing, I based my stories on the stories I knew and impressed everyone by making a chapter book in third grade. The books I knew had chapters, so obviously my story should have them, too. Each chapter was about a paragraph or two, of course, but OMG, this little third-grader is so advanced! I was praised and encouraged and given every opportunity to succeed, I have smart parents who speak and write well, I went to good schools, and I'm naturally a perfectionist, so I try to do things right just for the sake of being right. (And I can get a little pissy when challenged about my rightness.)

I had every advantage. Not everyone does. Some people aren't read to from chapter books at a young age. Some people aren't told by their families that writing well is valuable and praiseworthy. Some people don't get to go to great schools. Some people's parents didn't receive a college-level education and therefore can't set a college-educated example. Some people don't go out of their way to learn how to use semi-colons just for the sake of being right. If they find out they're passionate about writing anyway, even if they're naturally talented, they're gonna have a much harder time getting really good at it.

This is one reason we don't attack authors. It is quite possible that they are intelligent, wonderful people who just happen to have written a bad story because, for whatever reason, writing is more of a struggle for them.

THAT SAID... if you're dedicated enough to read/watch/play the canon five times, write a story based on it, and get access to the Internet to post it... you have all the resources you need to at least get the canon details right, not to mention spellcheck. I think there's a noticeable difference between a story by someone who's trying but just doesn't know what they're doing and a story by someone who's chucking canon and logic out the window for the sake of forcing their "original" ideas on the world and expecting to be lauded for it. The former don't make good missions and don't deserve to be sporked anyway. The latter do.

~Neshomeh

...if making high self-esteem all-important plays a role. How many here have read Screwtape Proposes a Toast?

Another factor might simply be late bloomers. I was in my early twenties when I learned about Mary Sues, and I was still in denial about Rheim son of Sirrus' urpleness for a few months after.

And bad writing and faulty observation are nothing new. Look up Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses some time.

They both intertwine, but can also work independently. (I also won't be offering any comments on SPG stuff, because I've always been good at that, so I don't know where it comes from.)

1/ Well... they're teenagers. Virtually all teenagers, whether they be 14 or 18, see themselves (mostly unconsciously) as the centre of the world. They think that their troubles are unique in all of history, that everything which upsets them was deliberately designed to do so, that everyone is thinking about them all the time, when in fact, the people around them are just as self-centred.

And what does that produce in stories? Main characters for who that is literally true. I came to writing fairly late; the first story I class as a 'real' story was written when I was 14 (and was, I think, the only lengthy bit of fiction I ever had to write for school). And it was... pretty bad. A teenager (because another component of this is that you tend to write characters your own age, because you know you're competent and can do stuff!) discovered that the world was going to be destroyed, and singlehandedly came up with and implemented a solution. Because of course he did.

And the next one was... well, not quite as bad, but still the same. It's actually available online for the sole purpose of showing what teenaged writing looks like; it was written in about 2002, when I was 16 - the age you claim I should have 'grasped the concepts of plot, conflict, and character development'. Want to reconsider that? XD

The thing is, it's hard. All protagonists are the centre of their story; no matter how much you read (and believe me, I read a lot), it's hard to spot how that differs from being the centre of their world. Jacob Ethrax solves everything singlehanded - well, so does Sam Vimes, so what're you complaining about? Spotting the difference - that Vimes has to work within the system, rather than remaking it in his own image - is... well, see point 2.

2/ Practice. I talked about this last week; I'll quote a section of that post here:

They write badly because they don't know how to write well. Look at Rings of Power, a mission I did into a story I wrote. I have a whole bunch of writing from about that time which consists of:

-Group of people encounter situation.
-Every single thing which happens in the area affects them.
-No-one can solve anything without their help.
-They get all the good stuff.

I did the research. I knew the layout of Lothlorien, and the timeline of the books. I didn't make up nonsensical, non-canonical stuff. But I hadn't learnt enough to let the protagonists operate in the world, rather than warping it around them. If they ran into trouble, it was specifically aimed at them - because that makes for added tension, right? R...right?

The vast majority of badfic writers are young, and still learning to write - heck, I was probably sixteen or seventeen when I wrote that, not even that 'young'! But it's very rare that people can write really well without lots and lots of practice. No, reading a lot doesn't help: it takes practice to realise that you are doing it differently to Terry Pratchett, or J.K. Rowling, or what have you. And you won't notice by reading back your own story, either.

And to add to that: the fact that you can't see the difference also means that you won't have a problem putting it online. Why should you? You can't see anything wrong with your story! And experience has shown that your reviews will consist in large part of people saying 'gud story i want to kno what happens neckst' - so it must be good! - and the occasional person who says 'your a tebirrle writer you should kill yourself and ***** your ***** with a *****' - or even just 'this is a terrible story your character sucks stop writing', which feels exactly the same. Actual constructive criticism is really really rare.

3/ Wait, didn't I say there were only two points?

4/ Hang on, stop

5/ making ne

6/ w po

7/ i

8/ n

9/ ts will you cut that out?

... thank you. As I was saying: I think the PPC is really good for young writers. I don't mean the writers whose stories we go into - I mean us, the community. My logic is this:

Young writers have a hard time making their characters not be the centre of the world. But the PPC is a soulless bureaucracy. However fabulous your agent is, the boss won't like her; Intelligence won't give her better missions; Makes-Things won't make new tech for her; and she will never actually fix the problem of bad writing. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it is very hard for a PPC agent to be written as the centre of the world; the world she inhabits just doesn't care enough about her. And that's what writers really need to learn.

hS

Seeing as I am one of those people who wrote a badfic and was over the age of 16. From my personal experience English teachers aren't teaching enough SPaG stuff, sure they cover the basics but then they move on to studying Shakespeare or Lord of the Flies and expect essays on that instead, there's very little creative writing done in schools, at least that I'm aware of, only one piece of coursework out of the ten or so I did during GCSE English was creative writing (it's also the one of the two things I got an A* in in GCSE), and even before GCSE there seemed to be very little stuff done on creative writing at all. The other problem I had was my handwriting, it was and still is horrible and the English department at my school were SO focused on getting it legible that I missed a huge amount of lesson time in favour of trying to get my fingers into a position they couldn't physically bend themselves into, thus I still don't know how to use things like semi colons correctly.

I guess what I'm theorizing is that English teachers aren't necessarily teaching us enough about creative writing for people to write things like fan and original fiction, well with decent SPaG and good grasps of plot, character development etc. And without studying further, or with friends more well versed in using the English language to help, Suethors could just not be aware that what they're doing is wrong, especially seeing as most reviews on fanfiction go along the lines of "Great work, please keep it up" and only a very few people actually take their time to stop and point out what is going wrong, and even then it may not necessarily be done in the most friendly fashion.

Storme Hawk

For your point about maturing by 16, I'd say not necessarily. It really depends on your education and your interests. If you start writing at 12 or 13 sheer practice will make you improve over time, but if you start later you'll take longer to get good. There's a difference between grasping a concept and being able to execute it.

When it comes to repeat offenders, or just bad writing in general, my theory would be that Suethors view the act of writing differently than we do.

Most of us are, more or less, serious about writing. Even if we're not shooting for a professional career in it we want to tell compelling stories and create or interpret characters in engaging ways. When it comes to fanfics we want to tell more stories in the worlds we've come to love. When people write badly it's at best a waste of potential.

But look at the excuses Suethors throw out when they're criticized. "It's just fanfiction!" "Get a life!" For them, fanfiction is a tool for their own entertainment, mostly escapism and wish fulfillment. It's a hobby and it just has to hit the right buttons for the author and maybe people with her tastes. To them we're taking everything too seriously. And if it was their private space instead of the internet, they'd have a point. The wiki covers the issues with criticism pretty well.

Basically my guess is that Suethors, in most cases, probably could write better, but they don't see a need to because "it's just for fun."

Neither Stephanie Meyer, Frank Miller, M. Night Shamayalan, and a very long list of other known Creators that cannot grasp at least one of those concepts. And they have made a career of that!

So, no, you cannot blame the English teachers about that. School in general is more to blame, because of the lack of encouragement for creativity in traditional education for children, leaving the world with a deluge of bad fiction, written by uncreative teens and adults, that do it just because they can, or for a paycheck, or for being crazy.

And to answer your question, I guess some people never really learn how to take criticism. I wouldn't know, I'm not a psychology major. *shrugs sadly*

(Also, I forgot to specify this earlier, but Ami's present was four bars of Bleepolate, not one.) You worked the posts together really well! I'm impressed!

I didn't really read the RP, but the interlude is still pretty good!

Just one thing, though.
"Why am I even here?" asked the Librarian. He was sitting in a corner, as far away from everybody else as possible, having decided that leaning on the walls wasn't a good idea after some of the Sar-Plasm decorating its walls stuck to his coat."
Should I call the Department of Redundancy Department? :P

I'm pretty sure Ten specifies in The Christmas Invasion, when he's explaining why his hand's just regrown (or is about to); if you have access to that, check.

Since you've said this is a first regeneration, bear in mind that they tend to get more severe as the cycle goes on. The Doctor's first regeneration was very low-key, and he was back on his feet almost instantly. Melody Pond's second regeneration didn't really affect her at all - well, it made her slightly psychotic, but in terms of confusion, no.

You might also want to note the first (known) regeneration of Romana: she was apparently able to select her new form with a fine degree of control. This ties in quite nicely with the regrowth/repair aspects seen with Ten and River, actually.

Also: regeneration energy can be used as a weapon in that early timeframe. Again, see River's attack on Berlin.

And the main effect you've missed from the Doctor's regenerations is 'manic energy'. Four jumped up and started jogging on the spot; Eight got waaaaay hyper; Ten, Eleven, and Twelve all manically crashed the TARDIS. And, again, see River, though she was most of the way there already.

hS

... but ultimately decided against it for many reasons. Though during my research I found this. Is a little outdated but I think it might be useful for you

Leftover regeneration energy seems to stick around for at least several hours after regenerating.

So, what's this one's backstory? Rescued from a badfic? Crash-landed into HQ? Fresh from the Time War? If it's the last one, Emiranlanoamar would like to have a word with him/her...

The secret to shipping.

Also:

>Iximaz/EVERY LIVING THING!!
>BBBB BIRD BIRD BIRD IS THE WORD
>bed based innuendo
>bunkbeds are cool
>FRICKEN SHARKS!
>MFW no laser beams
>LOVE IT FLIES
>THROUGH THE SKY
>LIKE A BIG PIZZA PIE
>Storme Hawk wants orgies
>MFW i'm in most of them
>border has a Voyd in his heart

Will post more as thread develops.

I suppose I'm deVOID of any shippable qualities?

I'm told I'm pleasant company, but clearly friendly doesn't keep the ladies warm at night.

Just don't play any love songs. I hate those things, they rub it in my face that relationships aren't a thing I've ever done.

...now I'm curious to see who I'm shipped with.

And I see it happens already.

HG

Edhelistar/World-Jumper - I call it a 'Space Ship'. Because one has a name with star in in, and the other jumps worlds!
Storme Hawk/TheShyIon - Makes me think of custom units in Command and Conquer.
bluefa02/firemagic - Makes me think or Red vs Blue. If they were individuals, instead of teams of soldiers, that is.
World-Jumper/Voyd - Because jumping over a world lands you in the arms of the void.
Shark-Jumper/World-Jumper - This thread didn't need much of a jump start, but it never hurts!

What? That's how you call multiple ships, right?
... Okay, I'm sorry. So...
SkarmorySilver/Storme Hawk: OF COURSE! I mean, bird shipping is pretty much something I already do, so...
Alternatively, SkarmorySilver/Iximaz: Because they wrote almost every mission in the last few months.
World-Jumper/Voyd: I swear that one made sense when I thought it out... Uh... They both have a human/nonhuman agent pair? Yeah, let's go with that.
SeaTurtle/Desdendelle: It also made sense when I came up with it... In that case, it's even more embarrassing since that was only a few seconds ago. Maybe it's because of the RP? Yeah, let's go with that (bis).
Iximax/DesDenDelle: Miniship! Well, maybe, if capitalisation minis count.

... Hey, I never said it was a big fleet.

I'm also kinda-OK-I-guess™ with being shipped. Have fun.

Ship fics are fun! I have no requirements. However, I do have a "challenge" of sorts. Feel free to ignore it for humor.

You all know how much I love ponies. Perhaps to an absurd degree. For my challenge, you cannot use mlp at all in the shipping. However, again, if you found a way for it to be funny, please, use pony humor. Just... Consider it bonus points if you manage to ship me properly without using my love for little ponies.

Now, do I want to ship anybody... Hmm...

ScarmorySilver/Storme Hawk - Because love is for the birds!

Huinesoron/Kaitlyn - Because I need to make up for what the Knight Jumper said in Plort.

Scapegrace/shark - Because now I can't get the idea of a Tsundere Shark shipping out of my head.

Storme Hawk/SkarmorySilver, because I always think they're the same person for some reason. Dang birds. :P
Iximax/Huinsoren, a ship between minis because minis need love too.

And wow, people are actually shipping me? I did not expect that! But feel free to do so. :P

I can be shipped with anyone, so go right ahead!

And... for some reason, Voyd/Iximaz? I'm not sure why but you two are kinda linked together in my head. Also SkarmorySilver/World-Jumper, for being the last two people to make RPs on the Other Board.

... as long is not in a slash pairing.

Regarding shipping others, well I'm kind of boring with that. Ships-canon-pairings level of boring. I have only shipped one non-canon pairing in all history of fandom and I'm still on that ship despite it being deader than Disco.

Therefore my shippings are:

Huinesoron/Kaitlyn
Neshomeh/Phobos
Both for the reasons listed above.

Let the madness reign!
(Go ahead and ship me.)

Let's see, let's see:
-Iximaz x PC (makes sense in my head, but not anywhere else).
-Iximaz x Iximax (minishipping ho).
-Iximaz x Scapegrace (name-changes).
-Scapegrace x Hieronymus Graubart (The other Culture people).
-Hieronymus Graubart x Herr Wozzeck (both connected to Germany in my head).
-Huinesoron x Elven languages (no idea how that will work. Why are you asking?).

Huh, there's a disproportionate amount of Iximaz there...

I've never had any love life to speak of (I did have an IRL date last year, but it didn't work out), so I'm not sure if shipping me with another Boarder would be worth anyone's time to be honest. If I had to reccommend any partners for me, though, I'd go with eatpraylove and Iximaz, both of which I got to know via collabs. A close second pick, as a few of you have guessed, is Herr-Wozzeck, whose writing was one of the reasons for my joining the PPC in the first place; if he ever comes back I would like to co-write with him as well.

Probably not Storme Hawk, though. Don't know him on a personal level despite us being birds and all. And I honestly have no idea why hS would be referred to as a bird, either.

Between other Boarders, I'd probably go with Neshomeh/Tungsten Monk and Caddy/Miah, both of which have again co-written some really good stuff.

Shipping... yeah. That subject I usually have a 15-yard restraining order against. And it's of real people this time.

You can toss me into this dish, but don't complain if your VoydxWhoever ship salad is bitter.

That metaphor made more sense in my head. Anyway, I don't have any Boarder ships that aren't already dating/married.

My real life is devoid of romantic love and I would like to live vicariously through other people's ideas.

In addition to this, I will endeavour to put the ship to music. Why? Just 'cause. =]

(would shipping music be a shanty idek)

---

hS/Iximaz
I see this as kind of a mentoring-related ship, with the rise of someone to greatness as their lover looks on, proud as can be of how far they've come.
Theme:- We's runnin' a classy joint here, see? Nyeah.

Storme Hawk/SkarmorySilver
birb birb birb birb birb birb birb birb BIRB BIRB BIRB BIRB BIRB BIRB BIRB BIRB-
Theme:- BIRB BIRB BIRB BIRB okay you get the point

SkarmorySilver/Herr Wozzeck
Our resident purveyors of missions that go on for-bleedin'-ever. They like it loooooong~ >;oD
Theme: Geddit?

More as my memory comes back. =]

I did it for Shipfest.

World-Jumper/Iximaz - co-write
Iximaz/Her pencil - canon
SeaTurtle/PoorCynic - first two I thought of
Darkotas/Phobos - World of Warcraft
Huinesoron/SkarmorySilver/Storme Hawk - birds

I'm cool being shipped with anyone! Okie, parings...

Iximaz/Darkotas- Canon

Darkotas/foofooman3- Brocrushin'

foofooman3/TheShyIon- both my siblings (just in different senses)

SkarmorySilver/World-Jumper- both guys I've done co-wrires with

SkarmorySilver/eatpraylove- they had a nice co-write

Desdendelle/Neshomeh- they both love tea


Aw yeah, this is gonna be fun!

AKA I'm willing to ship and be shipped.
And on that note, a return from last year Storme Hawk/hS, 'cos bird shipping (also if you want more of an excuse we're the first two people to reply to this).

(This list was created over the last, oh, fifteen minutes; I'm sure I can come up with others)

Kaitlyn/Iximaz/Desdendelle/PoorCynic - our new PGs.
Kaitlyn/JulyFlame - the two non-voting Barons of Plort
Huinesoron/Kaitlyn - canon
SkarmorySilver/Iximaz - our two ridiculously prolific writers/Pokemon agent users
PoorCynic/Phobos - theirloveissoconcrit
Neshomeh/Phobos - also canon
Iximaz/TheShyIon - Big-and-Little-Sib Ship (Sibcest?)
Kaitlyn/VixenMage - well, I ship it. ^^
Kaitlyn/VixenMage/Araeph/Techno-Dann - the inactive Permission Givers
Caddy-Shack/Miah - cowriter ship!
Desdendelle/Neshomeh - this ship is a tea clipper
Hieronymus Graubart/SkarmorySilver - very loooong names
SkarmorySilver/The ShyIon/EileenAlphabet/SeaTurtle - CamelCaseShip
bluefa02/foofooman3 - theirloveissoalphanumeric

hS ^^

First off, I'm not really seeing a true character here. All you've presented to us is a generic archetype with a list of powers. Archetypes are fine when you're in the early stages of drafting a character, but you can't just coast on them. A good character is more than a sentence. A good character is more than a checklist of entries from TV Tropes. You should think of a good character as an actual person, with all the complexities thereof.

I also have some qualms about what you intend this character to be used for. Based on the other posts you've made in this thread, it seems to me that you just want to use Katya as a tool to better go toe-to-toe with superpowered Sues and Stus. I've harped on this before, and I'll probably harp on it again in the future: PPC agents should not be fighting Sues and Stus head on. They're not soldiers and they're not Jason Bourne-esque spies; they win their "fights" through clever thinking and misdirection, not combat.

That's not to say agents with mega-powers can't be written, it just depends on how they are written. That's the true test of a character. I would like to see Katya in a drabble or two, maybe inspired by something off of the Permission prompt list.

You don't actually need to cut her off from her powers or abilities to make her be an 'okay' character for the PPC.

The important thing is that she's written responsibly by you. If you can't guarantee that you'd write her responsibly without a built-in limiter, maybe you should reconsider using her at this time entirely. By this I don't mean have her not need it at all, but that if she was placed into the position where she misused her powers and should be in trouble (which has a good chance of happening, considering how Kara can get at times), would you be able to write out the appropriate consequences? This is the question you need to be asking yourself.


PPC agents don't need a surfeit of powers to be able to do what they do; my main two were completely normal baseline humans. But it also doesn't mean that when they do have powers, that you need to lock them down so they aren't Sueish. Hitting the ticky boxes does not a Sue or Stu make. The key is qualitative, not quantitative.

Beyond that, Aquaman is actually ridiculously strong. DCU Atlanteans are really tough in general because they can sustain underwater pressures that will squish a normal human.

(Also, collecting the mini 'Spiderman'. It's always Spider-Man, with the hyphen. ;))

She's got a PK Supergirl-setup from the Whateley Universe continuum that's a lot closer to being the actual Supergirl. Cool, we can work with that. Her comparative immaturity and power-limiter artifact will help, but I think the big downside is actually the electricity aura if you make it sensitive. Sod Aquaman, she can get taken down by a no-name kid with a Taser.

I definitely think that in this case, the Flowers would demand that her limiter is also, for want of a better term, a shock collar. If she should turn against the PPC for whatever reason, well, she's got an off switch on her wrist. Ooh, make a matching one like Wonder Woman's bracelets and never tell her which one the real one is! Better yet, make BOTH of them limiters! Redundancy is just good planning made flesh in this instance. =]

The most important part is personality, not the powers. In most missions she'll be in a disguise without her normal powers anyways. The important thing is making sure her personality and backstory are sound and entertaining.

On the actual thing you were asking about, I think that the powers don't seem too bad.

And good luck with your defense, too! Remind me what you're getting your degree in?

Out of those continua, I'm only familiar with MegaMan and maybe Pikmin. Like you said, those two series would be somewhat odd choices for agents due to the natures of the characters. I think there's a perfect place for them: the DoSAT. For example, NetNavis have been shown to be able to "speak" to technology, and a Pikmin character would be small enough to fit into the inner workings of devices. These factors would allow them to interact with technology in a way other agents never could, and thus they would be the perfect choices for maintaining agent gear.

I think it's getting to around 5 years myself. In October or something, maybe. Hard to imagine it, eh? here to you being around for longer yet, man. Cheers!

And congratulations on the anniversary! Time well spent, indeed.

I hope we get to see more of you in the next few years! Have a framed picture of Black Widow being her usual awesome self!

Here, have this miniature talharpa.

Here, have a Kryptonian Pulse Rifle!

Since I wasn't around to welcome you, take this barking life-size walrus! If the urple bow around its neck is too overwhelming, feel free to remove it.

And have a plate of congratulatory SPaGhetti! Freshly-made. ;)

(You know, if anyone cares...)

I'm not usually a big fan of politics on the internet, but this is clearly a special occasion.

Originally I was certain Verizon could NOT be serious with this... then I remembered Corporate America.

Good luck with that thing. I can't wait to see how you deal with it.

Take this box of 12 bottles of Bleeprin, you're going to need it! I salute your bravery. *Makes military salute*