Worm

If you just read up until the timeskip, it's a very good story. Beyond there, it goes off the rails and the grimdark action scenes just become meaningless and tedious.

For anyone who cares, wildbow announced that Worm's sequel is most likely coming out in early 2016.

edited 5th Nov '14 7:04:48 AM by rmctagg09

A sequel? You mean there's room for things to get even worse?

Wildbow's been planning on the sequel for the longest, he just only bothered officially announcing it now.

edited 5th Nov '14 8:58:01 AM by rmctagg09

Ooh.

The situation at the end of Worm is better than the one at the beginning: humanity is no longer slowly dying, a lot of "evil" factions have been eradicated (and with a few exception, the remnant of the evil faction are weakened or pacified) and the good teams are stronger than ever, getting almost all of the most powerful people in it. On a more personal level, Taylor is for the moment retired in a safe haven, with a good hope that she can be happy at last.

I agree that the grimdark was at its peak in the chapter 24 to 27(the peak being Scion revealing that he has Comtessa's power), but after that I would say that the situation tend to improve.

Globally, the situation is improving throughout the story, with some major setbacks such as Leviathan, Scion or the Nine. For instance, Brocktown Bay has lost two of its worst faction at the seven arc, and is devoid of any warlord after the arc 20.

I hope that Worm 2 has a new protagonist, I think Taylor's earned a rest at this point

I can't really see her being the Worm 2 protagonist, personally.

Really, the only other thing I want from the Worm universe is more fic-lets about Dragon and Defiant. They're adorable together.

Ooh, or a whole story with Dragon as the protagonist. That would be fantastic.

If anything I'm pretty sure Aidan will be the new protagonist since he's practically Taylor's successor due to his shard being broken off from the Administrator shard.

edited 5th Nov '14 3:22:43 PM by rmctagg09

I hope Worm 2 has a new protagonist because Taylor is a terrible person and I don't want to read about her.

I hope it has a new protagonist because I feel like Taylor's story had a pretty final-seeming ending. Where exactly can you go from the amount of power she had there anyway?

Oddly enough I'm not that invested in a sequel. Or at least, not one in the immediate aftermath, with the same characters.

Wildbow actually made some comments on who might be involved or focused on in a sequel on some of the sites he talks to Worm fans on.

Do tell

He didn't say anything concrete but said that Narwhal may be focused on a bit, Number Man might and what his Trigger Event was may be shown, Bitch might have a role in it, and the Three Blasphemies origins/activities might be explored.

Alright I hope we get to see more of the international teams of capes.

@Do: So wait it's a prequel, not a sequel?

No, it's a sequel.

@CDRW: Well that's harsh.

She's certainly not as nice and sympathetic as when she started off. And unfortunately not all that admirable.

I might be up for the Electric Boogaloo. I didn't like how Worm spiraled into darkness after a while, but the first half was awesome. With a new main character in a world freed from the ever growing shadow of annihilation it could go back to being what I loved.

I would argue that Taylor is the most moral at her Weaver phase. On the first quarter of the story, Taylor imagine herself to be a good undercover but is too "selfish" for that(she sacrificed too much for her friend to be considered nice. Of course she has a right to be selfish). On the second to third quarter of the story, Taylor sacrifice far too much to save the oracle (and really, the oracle is clearly not what she really wants to save here), the Weaver phase is when she sacrifices everything for the greater good to the point of self destruction, and the last phase is a more balanced individual, who sacrifice a lot but not everything to the greater good.

Sooooo... I've been thinking about this lately and, as a thought experiment, can anyone here think of a way to beat the Smurf that doesn't involve Scion?

Depends on how absolute Simurgh's prescience is. Unfortunately, it appears that she trumps everything, even Contessa. So not likely.

Having gotten up to the part where Skitter kills Alexandria and takes up the name of Weaver, I came by these forums just to see if anyone else felt like the story displays a severe case of Protagonist-Centred Morality (whether intentional by Wildbow or otherwise). I'm glad to see that there are others who feel the same...from the comments on the site itself you'd think Taylor was a poor oppressed saint who could do no wrong. Taylor complaining that Alexandria and co. are "bullying" her or suppressing information feels flat when she's threatened hostages with death, sicced capsaicin and miscellaneous critter venoms on her enemies, chased off gang members with bullet ants, scapegoated a deceased enemy, etc etc.

(Admittedly, in some cases Taylor doesn't intend to follow through on her threats, her power's offensive ability is maximised when used to inflict pain, and she feels bad about the things she's had to do. But I notice that these points pretty much apply to Alexandria as well, and probably a large portion of the heroes and PRT.)

Worm is a tragedy with a Protagonist-Sympathetic P.O.V.. Basically everyone finds themselves forced by circumstance to act in ways that will be perceived as brutal by others and put them in spots where they'll have to resort to likewise brutal manners.

In other words...