FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
Oni Lee doesn't have anything to do with the story at this point in time, please drop it before ES justifiably flips his lid over pointless off-topic conversation.
An Imago of Rust and Crimson (Worm crossover)
- Thread starter EarthScorpion
- Start date
Guile
Having a really great time right now
Which is silly, because I don't see Bakuda playing nursemaid or Lung making sure Oni Lee packed his grenades like a fussy mother getting her kid ready for school, do you?DieKatzchen said:
And if they outsource it to lower ranked gang members, stuff like that would get out.
Olive
Silent Princess
That sort of stuff might be learned behaviour. As in; someone tells him to go kill something, he doesn't go out without his grenades.Guile said:
Sir, Lung finds your insinuations to be offensive and possibly racially biased. Oh what, just because he's a monstrous Asian ganglord, he doesn't keep a twitter feed [1] and entertain himself by directing his followers to troll neonazi forums?Revlid said:
He also wishes you to know that in fact he has a custom keyboard made by Bakuda, which expands and contracts so he doesn't suffer from hands-larger-than-keyboarditis.
[1] "white power? guess your energy tariffs just went up again in all this hot weather. #suckonthiskaiser #failedassassinationattempts "
Olive
Silent Princess
Only when he's challenged by a worthy adversary. The threads between Eidolon and Lung when he gets into it are legendary amongst forum goers.DeAnno said:
Tattletale openly claims to have receive-only telepathy[1]. Some people believe that[2]; some don't[3]. The PRT doesn't, but mostly because its a freaking scary power and they'd rather not believe that all of their secrets could be instantly compromised. They justify this with the theory that the human brain doesn't have enough processing power to decode another human brain, never mind the fact that it doesn't have enough processing power to do a tenth of what Thinkers do.
[1]She's lying.
[2]They're wrong.
[3]They're right, but for the wrong reasons.
[1]She's lying.
[2]They're wrong.
[3]They're right, but for the wrong reasons.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
Actually, Lung probably could get a power boost by having somebody livestream his fights.
Damn, imagine being trolled so hard that your keyboard melts. That's one way to win an argument.Olive said:
Revlid said:
illhousen said:
hyzmarca said:
Like I said, it ought to become a running gag that looking up Thinkers and their powersets is an exercise in frustration- each time the wiki says something different. Until Taylor comes to the conclusion that it's a troll/flame war on a grand scale and gives up.illhousen said:
[I'm sorry guys, I coulden't resist...]
In-canon taylor had a creepy power, along with the rest of the Undersiders. She was considered vaguely villainous despite being a good girl with a good heart and a few insecurities. It held her back and ultimately cost her the hero title initialy.
...
In this story, she has the creepy power, and will probably be considered crazy, if the opening lines are any indicator.
She may end up channeling Alma Wade, and be considered less a villain and more the story you tell the new guy, laugh about nervously, and pray you never run into her.
Where she exercises her power, clouds of chittering insects crawl over (and through) everything (and everyone), the ceiling turns red and drips blood. Strange, otherworldly things crawl and bump and rattle in the dark just out of sight. Tinker's gear acts funny, and their sensors give contradictory and impossible readings. Thinkers get headaches and bleed from the ears and nose. Strangers power acts inconsistently, or fails to work at all. Breakers are usless. You always feel like something is watching you.
And through this nightmare, she walks. If you see her, walk away. Don't run. Don't run. Don't run, or she might notice you... if she hasen't already.
....
And that's before she decides to take on the Brockton underworld.
In-canon taylor had a creepy power, along with the rest of the Undersiders. She was considered vaguely villainous despite being a good girl with a good heart and a few insecurities. It held her back and ultimately cost her the hero title initialy.
...
In this story, she has the creepy power, and will probably be considered crazy, if the opening lines are any indicator.
She may end up channeling Alma Wade, and be considered less a villain and more the story you tell the new guy, laugh about nervously, and pray you never run into her.
Where she exercises her power, clouds of chittering insects crawl over (and through) everything (and everyone), the ceiling turns red and drips blood. Strange, otherworldly things crawl and bump and rattle in the dark just out of sight. Tinker's gear acts funny, and their sensors give contradictory and impossible readings. Thinkers get headaches and bleed from the ears and nose. Strangers power acts inconsistently, or fails to work at all. Breakers are usless. You always feel like something is watching you.
And through this nightmare, she walks. If you see her, walk away. Don't run. Don't run. Don't run, or she might notice you... if she hasen't already.
....
And that's before she decides to take on the Brockton underworld.
Actually, it's kind of funny.
I was researching the SH9, specifically the older members.
Nyx-
Can generate a poison gas which she forms into sold shapes that move at her will. If she chooses to release it or you break the shape it releases the gas.
Screamer-
The ability to manipulate sound within a huge area. She used it to amplify her voice, alter it to match others, throw it to speak directly into people's ears, or cancel out sounds she doesn't want heard.
Winter-
Her power involved a dampening effect that caused locations to lose heat, objects to lose inertia, and humans to lose will.
Cherish-
Detects and directs emotion.
Night Hag-
Her power appears to be location possession, being able to exchange or share places with any object.
Psychosoma-
Has the ability to warp people into rabid monsters. Dealing enough damage breaks the effect and returns them to their normal and unhurt self.
Miasma-
Can turn invisible and undetectable, spewing an odorless gas that wears away at other's minds, causing headaches, ringing in the ears, watery eyes and eventual blindness, memory loss and coma.
I wonder if ES was looking through this list when he was designing Imago!Taylor? Hehe.
Well, we've seen all of these so far, in one form or another. Or the potential for them, if Taylor finds a way to bring people into the Other Place/Bring the Other Place to people, and if she finds a useful way to use her Homonculi construct minions.
The interesting thing is I don't think Taylor would really be overpowered even if she got all of these together, or some combination.(depending on the mechanics involved, of course) Most of them are fairly low-key powers that are useful situationally, if you're imaginative, or have a very good team to back you up (which is basically what happened in canon).
I don't get the impression that ES intends to make Taylor overpowered here, but I guess the question I want to ask is, how much is too much? What would make this powerset really click, and what would knock it down?
Cherish-ability to read emotions
Taylor has that, though in a less intuitive and exact (and far more interesting) form.
Psychosoma-ability to create monsters from humans
She can create monsters... or... something, anyway. She might even be able to make her monsters possess people. We'll need to wait and see on that.
Night Hag-ability to occupy the same space as objects
Taylor might have that ability, if she can interact with objects in the Other Place in a different way than she interacts with everything in This Place.
Winter-dampening effect: locations lose heat, objects lose inertia, and humans lose will.
Taylor might be able to do this, if she can cause the Other Place to influence This Place. In addition; might grant the ability to generate fog and ice like Winter can.
Miasma-the ability to generate a gas that degrades people's minds.
As a purely Other Place based power...might be a useful offensive ability. Would suck if she got it as an uncontrollable power or drawback.
Nyx-the ability to create constructs and illusions of poison gas that she can then control.
The ability to create physical constructs would be cool, especially if she can get the same degree of realism Nyx can. A secondary effect like poison gas or sudden cold (or blood/rusty water) upon destruction would be cool too.
Screamer-ability to control all sound over a vast area.
This was one of the coolest powers in the series, in my opinion- really -coupled with the ability to generate Winter's fog. Skitter actually did something like this while fighting Coil and his men. And it was freak-tastic.
All in all? My instinct is Taylor is getting set up for the complete psych-warfare package. Which is awesome.
Anybody else have input? . If she got this full set, would she be overpowered? What other powers would you like to see involved?
That sort of thing.
I was researching the SH9, specifically the older members.
Nyx-
Can generate a poison gas which she forms into sold shapes that move at her will. If she chooses to release it or you break the shape it releases the gas.
Screamer-
The ability to manipulate sound within a huge area. She used it to amplify her voice, alter it to match others, throw it to speak directly into people's ears, or cancel out sounds she doesn't want heard.
Winter-
Her power involved a dampening effect that caused locations to lose heat, objects to lose inertia, and humans to lose will.
Cherish-
Detects and directs emotion.
Night Hag-
Her power appears to be location possession, being able to exchange or share places with any object.
Psychosoma-
Has the ability to warp people into rabid monsters. Dealing enough damage breaks the effect and returns them to their normal and unhurt self.
Miasma-
Can turn invisible and undetectable, spewing an odorless gas that wears away at other's minds, causing headaches, ringing in the ears, watery eyes and eventual blindness, memory loss and coma.
I wonder if ES was looking through this list when he was designing Imago!Taylor?
Hehe.Well, we've seen all of these so far, in one form or another. Or the potential for them, if Taylor finds a way to bring people into the Other Place/Bring the Other Place to people, and if she finds a useful way to use her Homonculi construct minions.
The interesting thing is I don't think Taylor would really be overpowered even if she got all of these together, or some combination.(depending on the mechanics involved, of course) Most of them are fairly low-key powers that are useful situationally, if you're imaginative, or have a very good team to back you up (which is basically what happened in canon).
I don't get the impression that ES intends to make Taylor overpowered here, but I guess the question I want to ask is, how much is too much? What would make this powerset really click, and what would knock it down?
Cherish-ability to read emotions
Taylor has that, though in a less intuitive and exact (and far more interesting) form.
Psychosoma-ability to create monsters from humans
She can create monsters... or... something, anyway. She might even be able to make her monsters possess people. We'll need to wait and see on that.
Night Hag-ability to occupy the same space as objects
Taylor might have that ability, if she can interact with objects in the Other Place in a different way than she interacts with everything in This Place.
Winter-dampening effect: locations lose heat, objects lose inertia, and humans lose will.
Taylor might be able to do this, if she can cause the Other Place to influence This Place. In addition; might grant the ability to generate fog and ice like Winter can.
Miasma-the ability to generate a gas that degrades people's minds.
As a purely Other Place based power...might be a useful offensive ability. Would suck if she got it as an uncontrollable power or drawback.
Nyx-the ability to create constructs and illusions of poison gas that she can then control.
The ability to create physical constructs would be cool, especially if she can get the same degree of realism Nyx can. A secondary effect like poison gas or sudden cold (or blood/rusty water) upon destruction would be cool too.
Screamer-ability to control all sound over a vast area.
This was one of the coolest powers in the series, in my opinion- really -coupled with the ability to generate Winter's fog. Skitter actually did something like this while fighting Coil and his men. And it was freak-tastic.
All in all? My instinct is Taylor is getting set up for the complete psych-warfare package. Which is awesome.
Anybody else have input? . If she got this full set, would she be overpowered? What other powers would you like to see involved?
That sort of thing.
Thus 'Depending on the mechanics involved'.SolipsistSerpen said:
None of them are, individually, stronger than her own canon abilities. And, in fact, some (like Winter's) are arguably much weaker. The reason they were so feared as villains was because they were the Slaughterhouse Nine. Very, very smart. Very, very depraved. And very, very skilled at useing their abilities.
What I'm saying is like... Taylor has, in canon, the ability to 'command insects', the ability to 'perceive through her insects', and 'supernatural multitasking'.
None of those powers are gamebreakers and those powers as a combination are not a game-breaker. In fact, even together, I'd never imagine them being even half as effective before reading the story.
So... The ability to create 'constructs of emotion' or 'personal avatars' (or whatever ES decides they are), the ability to 'generate a field of entropy' or 'generate mental entropy', the ability to 'create tangible illusions or mental influences', the ability to 'interact with environs through a personal analogue sub-dimension', and the ability to 'perceive an emotional/mental analogue environment/dimension'... Would not be overpowered, or it could work at least. It isn't that removed from what she had in canon. Keep in mind- in this version she won't be near-omniscent. Powers are only as good as your imagination- and imagination is only as good as the info you have.
And, yes, there could be other major drawbacks... I'm actually counting on that.
Examples, aside from the obvious possabilities of headaches and such: if she got all these powers, but had to be actively looking in the Other Place to use them at all. Leading to some strange conversations- like Glaistig Uaine's mania induces. Also, imagine the feedback she'd get from the big name villains, like Coil and the Slaughterhouse Nine.
I'm asking if you think it could work, and if that powerset sounds cool. If it's missing something. What you'd give her. Ect.
(And I'm hopeing to generate inspiration for ES too!)
Don't.Racheakt said:
I know what I'm doing. I don't need "wouldn't it be cool if?" suggestions.
Well, yeah. Exactly. That's kinda the point. Which brings me to...illhousen said:
I was just gushing because I think the concept in general is really interesing. The thread is for discussing it, and I was. I don't understand why everyone else is getting on my case about it. If they don't like it, they don't have to read it or give me a like, my feelings aren't hurt that easy.EarthScorpion said:
Most baffleing, to me, is your reaction, ES. If you don't or didn't want me talking about potential powers- either because you find it annoying or because you're worried about creative contamination -you just needed to say soback when I started speculateing. I don't see how it's a big deal.
I like suggestions. The few instances I get them I consider them. I rarely use them, but it feels nice that people are interested enough to offer input like that.
If I'd known you were that sensitive about it, I would have respected that.
Inverness
The Foxiest Wife
Don't take ES's abruptness negatively. Some people just have everything planned out nicely whenever they have a task to be done and will either intentionally or unintentionally give you response that can be considered rude if you make suggestions.Racheakt said:
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
He didn't reply to the part where you were discussing potential ideas.Racheakt said:
He replied to the part where you suggested they could provide inspiration for him, with a fairly short statement saying that he already knows what he's doing, and doesn't need inspiration or input from the readers.
It wasn't "don't speculate on what ideas I have in store for the story", it was "there is no need for you to try and give me ideas, it would be a waste of your time because I already have this planned out".
This.Aleph said:
Moreover, a horror story is one where I'm least likely to take audience suggestions (and considering I'm not too fond of them for freakin' comedy, that's saying something). The essence of horror done well is the implicit, the unknown and the uncertain; basically any monster you care to mention is scarier when it's not on screen. If you've seen the play of The Woman In Black, I am very much of the opinion that the second half of the play is weaker because she appears too much. Alien is the best horror film in the Aliens franchise because the Alien isn't seen too much and no one knows the fuck what's going on - Aliens by contrast is an action film which has the xenomorphs gunned down like cattle. Long running horror franchises suck at least in part because you learn too much about the source of the terror. Don't even get me started on how the pop-cultural form of the Mythos completely fucking misses the point. Knowledge - as opposed to supposition - is anathema to well-done horror.
And as a result, taking suggestions for horror would be actively detrimental to the atmosphere, because by surrogate that becomes a form of audience agency, and the stripping of agency is a powerful tool to scare and distress.
(The rest of it, of course, is because I'm an elitist control freak who reacts badly to attempts to usurp my narrative primacy.)
Revlid
blob of bugs
- Location
- England
Notably, the 2009 documentary covering the impact and production of the awesome horror movie Jaws was called "The Shark Is Still Working", a deliberate play on what was said to be the most frequent refrain of crew members working on the film - "the shark's not working again". The lack of a concrete physical on-screen presence for the shark is why Jaws was gripping and terrifying, while Deep Blue Sea (which was replete with CG sharks from the word 'go') was goofily entertaining.EarthScorpion said:
EarthScorpion said:
I understand thank you.Revlid said:
I just get a lot of ideas while reading this, and I wanted to share. I didn't see anything wrong with that, and now that I know you don't want them, I will refrain. All you needed to say was you didn't want them. I get it.
True, some horror setting I've seen don't tell crap about the monster like Learning his past or describing it. We only know that is there. And they are way better.EarthScorpion said:
Xicree
Murder.Malice.Might
Heh. Ah the great sin of Self-awareness... Meh you do have a tendency to be a bit over-hostile, but in the same breath it definitely keeps your threads under control and orderly so maybe calling it over-hostile might be wrong. Still you can come of a bit of a jerk particularly to the more sensitive.EarthScorpion said:
~shrugs~ I enjoy your stories and my own thick skin.
I don't mind it much, either. Like you said, his threads are pretty clean, and yes, I was probably comeing across as annoying.Xicree said:
But I could do without the conversations that it prompted- a couple people sent me incredibly rude PMs...
Honestly, ES? Lots of people follow your lead, and exaggerate it. I'm feeling a lot of greif at my end as a result.