Well, one of the more enjoyable aspects to Skitter as a villain was the lack of bureaucracy. We've lost that now that she's gone legit, but I'm hoping other things (tinker support!) will make up for that. Still, she has to do things by the books and keep up appearances, which is why juvie and the Wards are on the table. Given all she's done, it's kind of hard to believe she's only...what? Sixteen?

Any thoughts on the ending scene? I thought at first that it was Aidan who triggered and he was...idk, drawing the future from what he remembered of his dreams/nightmares. But it seems like he just has the potential while someone nearby (one of the other kids?) was the one who triggered.

 

After a million or so words of Worm I have faith that Wildbow knows how to tell a good story. I don't see the point in doubting his every plot development without giving him a chance to write a few chapters to prove it.

Of course Skitter's going to jail. That's where they put suspected criminals until they can successfully apply for bail or they're found innocent in a court of law. Skitter's been too public about her crimes, and her power is too recognisable, to just give her a new identity and be able to hide the truth from the public like the Protectorate did for Madcap and Armsmaster.

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I believe the Number Man's participation in Cauldron was revealed during the Echidna arc. It was probably on-screen, but it got another mention in Number Man's interlude.

 

I really hope that we don't have to suffer through a drawn out court/jail scene. I'm not interested in jury games or juvie fights against Shaddowstalker. There must be some other solution to this mess- maybe the timejump is coming up now?

 

The implications for me, are that Skitter's little tykes are the potential stars of the sequel to Worm, possibly where humanity has been nearly destroyed by an apocalypse and possibly where they're building anew in a new world. So some kind of sci-fi-y sequel? If I'm right, I wonder whether Skitter will sacrifice herself to see as many through the portal as possible, or if she'll be joining her friends on the other side (I don't think so, with the way Rachel talked about her future role in this chapter).

Danny changed for me the moment he clamped down on Taylor way back, when he called his mother-in-law for advice and took it. Granted, I didn't disagree with his decision back then (looking at it from his desperate perspective), but it was still the wrong approach. Taylor doesn't need blind support or trust, though that would make things easy for her; she needs people who can be reasonable. Danny becoming a hardass mother hen is the dumbest thing he can do for his daughter. It's not easy what he's going through, but he obviously knows next to nothing about the real shit his daughter has gone through - and that's the problem. He should have demanded the full story in its explicit detail, because he should have sought to understand her. The fact he was questioning her ability to reason things logically was unfounded.

And it's not like he doesn't know all this. What was the first thing she did when he started acting like a hardass bully? Even if he might have been in the right, she ran away. Locking her up without justifiable cause is only going to set up Skitter for another fall from grace.

Yes, she 'ran away from home', yes she suffered mental abuse, yes she might be unhinged and yes she might be breaking-laws, but Danny has yet to extract from her the full story. He has his side of the story, but not hers; so how can he expect to arrive at any kind of balanced decision? In the latest interlude he's surrounded by people who knew the "new" Taylor personally, yet he doens't ask them their live story? "Say, how did things start for you with Taylor? Can you tell me what's really been going on?" He doesn't seem like an active investigator; he's just reactionary. Every chapter he's been in since she left school he's been a brainless, clueless, bumbling idiot; maybe that's why it's hard to sympathize with him anymore. He's had numerous chances to do something about his daughter and he's sat on his ass. He has no idea what to do and seems incapable of finding the right help. If he can't do anything, he should just trust his daughter; and if he can't stand doing that, then he should start acting like a man.

 

While I have faith it's going to be a great ride, Wildbow has slipped up; the Traverler's and Echidna arcs were pretty mediocre and there was some characterization slippage. We haven't seen the full fallout of this arc yet though, and I'd really like to get inside the Undersiders' heads. I do think the Charlotte/Danny interlude first was a good idea though

 

It was said during the echidna arc, AND NM flat out thought about Tattletale trying to cut ties since learning he was with Cauldron.

 

Yeah, offensively speaking Taylor's pretty much up there with the S ranks in terms of sheer damage she could cause. She just doesn't have the same defenses as Nibhogg for instance to be ranked that high. She's gonna get close to all knowing in her bugzone once she gets the whole hearing-through-insects thing down however.

 

I wasn't saying that the story is perfect, [far from it - being critical is good], but that we should at least give Wildbow the benefit of the doubt when it comes to unexpected plot developments. Let him write his plot point out before becoming critical of it.

 

Danny's consideration of having her going to prison for her own good is completely deluded. He should know that exposing her to more criminals is hardly going to better her character.

It reminds me of a story where the mother of a young drug addict reported her to authorities, so she went to prison, but in fact, there were lots of drugs in the prison.

I also don't think Alexandrias offer was really good, since she could have rescinded every offer of leniency towards the Undersiders whenever she felt like it. Danny seems to fail to understand she was not offering a way out, but trying to break his daughter. I understood his way of thinking, being helpless about a situation he has no control about and all, but I find myself despising him more and more.

First he is helpless with the bullying, ok, it happens and has no easy solutions, then he decides to lock his daughter in, oh, suddenly he cares, but too late and too heavy handed. Then he has almost zero contact for weeks and seems to be afraid to even talk to his daughter, because he is afraid to lose her completely. And now he wants to lock her up, again. Seems to me he is doing this for himself, so she can't run from him anymore, while she is in prison, so actually pretty selfish, even if he tells himself it is for her good.

I really hope Skitter does not go to prison, and if she does, because of another failure of Danny, there have to be consequences.

 

I don't disagree at all; I tend to try and keep criticism towards what we've actually seen, as my magic 8 ball tends to roll better on the table than as a fortune telling device. We simply don't know what's actually gonna happen, although I think the idea of putting Taylor on the Wards instead of on a full on team is fairly silly, but we'll see how it plays out

 

She won't go to jail. Just can't see that happening.

Also, sort of a weak interlude.

 

It is sort of interesting that the conflict between Skitter and her mother's death isn't resolved yet? There's the implication that Taylor "caused" her mother's death. I'm curious to see if her relationship with Danny goes south. That point is something that should be resolved, Danny hasn't done a thing to convince her or us that he doesn't blame her, deep down. In an alternate universe where she didn't turn herself in, I could see how she might turn away from her father if he started consciously blaming her.

It would have made an interesting story at least - a darker, meaner Skitter and the Undersiders shore up the portal and try to keep out as many hooligans as they can for two years, building their "Ark" somewhere on the other side.

 

What?!? I loved the Travelers arc. It's my favorite arc in the entire story. Very cohesive, and has a hollywood-eque feel to it, sort of reminded me of the movie Cloverfield.

The Echidna fight was a little less "epic" given the amount of buildup it had, but it was still fairly decent.

 

Loved the Lung interlude. Wish we'd gotten a better description of his fight with Leviathan since I'm a sucker for action, but that's my only complaint.

 

Contessa is a precog, and given her combat abilities, it seems she has knowledge of the future several seconds ahead but no more.

Edit: Oh right. The Birdcage POV was great. Though, Alexandria just had to fuck things up one last time by approaching Saint.

 

once again, Lung proved himself to be one of the best 3 characetr in worm.

 

Seems like Lung got screwed over by Cauldron, hence why he went bad as opposed to being a Rogue. I'm not sure I quite got how Teacher was going to screw over everyone else, but it's past midnight and I'm tired, so that's probably why

 

I assume you're talking about the beginning when Contessa and Doctor (named Doctor Mother in the tags) killed his gang. He was already "bad". All Cauldron did was to cause him to trigger.

The question is, did he trigger coincidentally, or did the Cauldron-supplied drugs have a bit of a Cauldron-manufactured kick to them that encourages triggers?

 

You are now picturing Lung in the full glory of his transformation fighting Leviathan in the ruins of Kyushu, even as the entire nation sinks into the sea. Quite an image, eh?