The Dresden Files

.....*quiet but deep giggling*

Honestly compels me to point out that Babylon 5 is the Trope Namer for Wham Episode and Nothing Is the Same Anymore.

I am sure this is purely incidental.

edited 12th Jul '16 2:13:43 PM by 3of4

The other-viewpoint short stories have been fun little diversions so far. Presumably it's post SG, so it'll be the first time we've had a Knight's viewpoint, which could be interesting.

edited 12th Jul '16 1:58:15 PM by asterism

So, who is Mollari? Who is G'Kar? Will everyone united against The Shadow Outsider? Is the Church the Mimbari?

Also, on Nothing Is the Same Anymore:

edited 12th Jul '16 6:05:05 PM by RBomber

She needs to change schools right away! No DUSTER? BLASPHEMY!

It's all a trap! Get him used to that, strip him of some of his protection, get him in an environment he will be afraid to cut lose, and then send a hit squad for him,

On Wham Episode:

Is that from the chapter or fanfic? Not sure the time frame fits for that yet? She should only reach the double digits by now.

edited 13th Jul '16 6:22:01 AM by 3of4

No, all of them just speculation. Fanfic, if you prefer that term.

Some days ago someone posted a bunch of info from Jim about the various stories he's working on (including a spinoff about Maggie and two short stories involving Butters and Luccio). Anyone know where I can get the full transcript?

info here

Also apparently Jim's show of choice for writing Peace Talks (like Ocean's Eleven for Skin Game) was Babylon 5.

Okay, now I need this book to be published.

I haven't felt like this about a book coming out (good and bad) since the since the Wheel Of Time series.

So I'm finally on Ghost Story. This is fun. Already 205 pages in, where Harry's talking to Lea while those thugs attack Molly.

I am loving the change of perspective on Harry's part. I'm assuming it carries in somewhat to the rest of the series.

Finished Ghost Story this morning and already 165 pages into Cold Days. This week and next I've had a lot of free time at work. I will probably manage to catch up entirely by the end of next week.

Cold Days went down quick. Now I'm onto Skin Game in a couple days when I go back to work. This series is awesome. Harry. Dead? BWAHAHAHAHAHA! People came back from worse things than he did in Stargate SG-1. On a routine basis.

So far I've not seen anything untoward about how Butters progresses. Depending on how the whole Lightsaber thing actually goes down, I don't think there's an issue here. Dead Beat showed that when Butters sets aside his skepticism and accepts that cowardice is the road TO death instead of away from it, he can get involved with the best of them.

I mean, the guy looked around at a cityscape full of Native American warrior ghosts, and accepted that a freakin' circle would keep them from hurting him. While he was running a one-man polka rig. That was controlling a fucking T-Rex's ghost. He's not a day to day badass, but he has his moments.

As for the hot girlfriend, Andi and Marci were taking care of his injuries at the end of Ghost Story, and Andi's last significant other went down fighting. She might WANT someone with enough sense to run away from any fight he couldn't do anything about, as long as he was willing to stand his ground when it was needed. Which Butters has done a few times now. Bonus points for him being the DM who kept her in the RPG spirit after the last one died.

To be fair, most people complaining not because Butters get Lightsaber, most people complaining because Karrin didn't get her Holy Shikomizue and end up as cripple. With reason that many people feel as flimsy excuse.

That is a fair point, though I remember at least one person going off about how Butters doesn't deserve any of it.

I don't really have any objections based on whether or not Butters 'earned it.' I don't think he did, but that's mostly because of the fact that most of Butters' character development happens when we, the audience, can't see it. He learns not to be a coward in Dead Beat, he has appearances after that based around his mad meatball surgery skills, and then at some point he becomes something out of a 90's cartoon, complete with a freaking skateboard.

My primary objection is that it seems like really overt pandering in a series where the pandering is usually kept at least somewhat tasteful. Usually the series has been pretty good about keeping the nerd appeal to pop culture references and otherwise trying for a somewhat serious (albeit punctuated by levity and comedy) tone. Then all of a sudden we have a literal freaking holy lightsaber and that tone just gets slashed with a machete.

That, and, I'm sorry, the Andi-Butters relationship is just kinda creepy. She was a college freshman in Fool Mon, and a scant five years later when we meet Butters, he mentions being 37 years old. Depending on how old Andi is (it's never specified, just that she's of age with the rest of the Alphas), he could have 10+ years on her. I don't really care how narratively justified it is, that shit makes me raise my eyebrows.

edited 31st Jul '16 5:29:20 AM by math792d

I'm dating someone twenty years older than me. YMMV big time on the age factor.

I'm going to have to read Skin Game to catch up on some of this stuff. Cold Days didn't include a skateboard. Though even that could just be Butters keeping up with Andi. It does happen in those relationships.

Yeah, obviously the time factor's YMMV. As are most things pertaining to sexuality in this series that don't involve Nickelheads.

Well of course the Nickelheads would be outright bad. In such a world of ambiguity, it's nice to have a clear cut bad guy.

Actually, the skateboard makes sense. It's light and portable, wheeled and has no electronics and mechanisms to muck up, so it can be magically propelled. And unlike the alternatives with similar qualities, like bikes, scooters and roller blades, it's relatively portable and unobtrusive,and has no tactically weakness that can't be solved be stepping off it, which is also quicker and easier to do than on a bike or roller blades. Plus you can bring it into buildings and doesn't make you stand out (scooters are really awkward in this regard).

edited 31st Jul '16 5:19:09 PM by SCMof2814

It's also too-90s-for-words and no essay on its practicality is going to change that

Um, skateboards are still around, man. And the pros who made the games in the early 2000s are around Butters's age. So, no, it's not too nineties for words. MIGHT be behind the times now, possibly, but not by that much.

And does not change the practicality of it as pointed out above.