Oh god, Predator!Skitter.

This is only getting more terrifying.

 

Latest chapter reads kind of icky. She is/was in prison? And people actually think they can keep her there aginst her will? People just won't learn. And what a waste of Taylor's time. Seriously, I don't get it. If she's going to fight Endbringers, let her. Make the public simply think she's in jail. It's silly. Do what Defiant did - it's obviously not hard. The public has swallowed dumber things, just say all the crimes she comitted were actually sanctioned; she didn't break any laws. Unless this is simply for the BB Wards, who might take offense to that, in which case, who cares? Well whatever, at least it seems like she's out.

 

Latest chapter was well-written as always, but I don't really like where the story is headed. I'm willing to give Wildbow the benefit of the doubt for now though.

 

I don't want to say it's bad - I think it's interesting that we're in a new setting and Taylor has to deal with a bunch of egotistical heroes tying her hands behind her back, but this all could have happened under another, perhaps more interesting pretense, where Skitter didn't go to jail and deal with a lot of stupid bullshit she could have stood up to, like she had been since the beginning? That's the feeling in my gut, at least.

 

Any society this stupid really deserves an apocalypse. Excellent chapter in spite of the situation, but it did nothing but make me hate the Protectorate and the PRT more.

 

Blah. Not a fan of this one. I really don't want this to undue the ruthless but still somehow kind persona Skitter had in BB. If anything I'd really appreciate it if a S class threat showed up or something and wrecked the protectorate's shit. Also, question: did someone see a future version of Skitter in a modified version of her Undersider armour post-apocolypse? For some reason I remember a scene like that but I can't recall the cape who mentioned it (possibly Dinah?).

I miss her old costume too, not a fan of the new one. Hopefully she'll make changes.

The fact this section is titled "Drone" does not fill me with confidence.

 

I think the 'drone' bit is that she is going to have to learn how to program her bugs to do stuff while she is being immobilized/paralyzed.

The latest few arcs has talked more and more about her bugs doing stuff when she is asleep/etc, so i expect something to be done with it.

 

The chapter was well written, had some interesting fight scenes, new capes and powers, a different environment, head games by those Protectorate capes who hate Taylor.... and it was lukewarm, left me with a hollow feeling. Something was missing and it was.... Skitter.

Going from being a kick ass villain who rules a mayor city to cowed and repentant prison girl and insecure, bullied Ward member ... all because of some vague interpretation of Dinas words about "cutting ties"... No, I don't like this and I really, really hope that the last scene and her desire to "feel more like myself" is foreshaddowing that being forced to behave like a "Drone" will resurrect the queen bee in her.

 

She turned herself in- she's there by choice.

She couldn't just get off scott-free for everything she did.

Anyways, I actually liked this chapter. I'm totally fine with the direction things are going in- I've been wanting something like this for a while.

 

Wards: "I can take-"

Clockblocker: "No, you can not."

 

She couldn't get off scott-free because it would hurt the PRT's image if they let her get away with it. That's all they care about, it's all we've seen them care about. And Skitter could trash their image if she wanted to, she has the means and the knowledge, so I disagree - she could have negotiated a much lighter sentance, if it weren't for the fact she's a glutton for punishment. I can't empathize with her guilt, so maybe that makes me a sociopath, but if she had properly stood up for herself... well, I suppose she wouldn't have followed Dinah's orders to "break ties" from the very beginning.

I wouldn't mind any of this so much if Dinah and Skitter had a little bit longer chat about the actual meaning of that phrase and what her decisions need to be at this point. What is she trying to accomplish joining the wards? What is she trying to do?! She's paralyzed herself, where she's at. She was in no worse a position managing BB against hordes of heroes and villains trying to conquer it (a paralysis all its own). Isn't she moving blindly here? Is she just having faith that because she did whatever it is that Dinah wanted her to do, that something good will happen?

What strikes me as most odd is Tagg's death. A 20% chance of happening. That's pretty darn low. That means there were a lot of possibilities for the outcome of her encounter with Alexandria, how does she even know she's made the right choices? If she's going to have blind faith in Dinah, I'd expect her to be sending text messages back and forth - some kind of communication.

 

Didn't Dinah say in the presence of Skitter's bug-ears that she can't communicate with her?

 

Yeah, but honestly that felt like a super flimsy excuse. "Can't talk to her or the numbers change", when Dinah's whole goal is to get the numbers to change for the better, and she should be very used to the numbers changing, because that happened all the damn time while she was with Coil.

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She couldn't get off free because she committed several major crimes. She held a knife to the goddamn throat of Panacea- who at the time did nothing but go around healing people. She threatened like 30 people with death by poisonous spider. She has killed three people.

Ultimately the PRT doesn't decide her sentence anyways- that's up to the courts.

For the PRT, having Skitter join them so publicly actually hurts their image a little bit. Regardless of if 1/3rd of Brockton Bay teenage support her, the vast majority of the world has no impression of Skitter outside of "Villain who took over control of Brockton Bay".

What do you mean "could have got a lighter sentence"? We don't even know what her sentence was yet.

 

Dinah's power lets her find the best of all possible world to aim for, so if she does something it is by necessity exactly what she has to do to get that outcome or something near it.

 

No, she can't look at any specific outcome without incredible lasting pain that leaves her unable to use her power.

Remember her interlude?

 

Was anybody else laughing at the Glenn PR scene?

Also, why are so many members of the Protectorate such assholes? I mean, c'mon, Jouster. In light of everything she did, which is public knowledge by now, he still underestimates her?

Anyways, Weaver doesn't have the same edge that she had before as Skitter, but she's still trying to figure out a way around her new restrictions. Her creativity has always been one of her best traits, so I'm looking forward to seeing how she adapts.

Here's hoping that she gets some more exotic bugs imported along with those butterflies. The title of the arc indicates maybe...robot bugs? *crosses fingers*

 

Actually, she can. It's just that Coil overused her power so much that doing so was the straw that broke the camel's back. Plus there's the addiction he kept her under; when she was going through withdrawal it was harder for her to use her power.

 

Yes.

Glenn's a douche, but I get the feeling that he's a very important one in keeping things afloat and changing the outlook of young, headstrong, often emotionally damaged youngsters. The kids need to have a larger perspective than just themselves, and Glenn prods them into thinking about that. He's also getting them used to the idea of obeying ordinary humans [do we have a word for muggles, non-capes, powerless?], and considering how their every action affects the feelings and thoughts of the ordinaries around them.

If the capes didn't care about how they're seen by others, then I reckon it'd be a slippery slope to thugishness. Where does a 500 pound gorilla sit? Wherever it wants. Cops in the every day world, with the comparitively tiny power that a badge and a gun can give them, can act like utter cunts and because there's no repurcussions they get away with it and feel entitled to abuse their power in pettiness. Now give ten times that power to a bunch of moody teenagers who've earned their powers through horrific experiences, been involved in more violence in their lifetime and at a younger age than any cop, and you've got a recipe for a society wide disaster.

Glenn's a petty dick, but that's what he's paid to be, and it's not for no reason.

I haven't even touched on how important presenting a good image to the public is.

I found that understandable. Have you ever been part of a cult-like religious group, or a company whose employees believe they're superior to every other company in their field, perhaps even an exclusive school where the kids know that every other school around is scum? The members begin to develop the attitude that competitor organisations are weak, flawed, flash-in-the-pans, deficient, and always worth less than their own company. The negative tags attached to competitors don't have to be accurate, or even remotely true. Each person inside the org supports denigrating outsiders and the ego inflation becomes self-perpetuating. They can't consider other orgs to be their equal.

I'd be very surprised if the Wards don't have a similar outlook. When news about Skitter taking over Brockton Bay came out, the non-BB Wards wouldn't have looked at Skitter as being strong enough to be a threat to the Protectorate. They'd be discouraged from thinking of any villains with respect. Villains are the enemy. I've seen it before in competitor organisations in a single industry where I've worked for different sides during my career. Even in the face of evidence that the competitor is powerful or intelligent, they are neither. And anyone who says otherwise is quickly told how things are.

It's elitist, but common. I've yet to meet a person from an armed service who didn't believe that their branch was the best in class, best in world, or at least in some respect better than their neighbours.

Sort of. When discussing the end of the world, Dinah told Skitter “People are spread out. I know you’re there. You’re different but you’re there.” That might have something to do with a new uniform.

With the amount of internalised complaining from Taylor, that seems inevitable.

A drone is a male bee with no stinger. Weaver's been de-clawed and de-fanged. I think that's what this arc is about. She isn't allowed to scare the shit out of people or bring in the nasty bugs. Yet. It's only one arc. And we're already seeing Weaver work her way around the restrictions.

 

Heh. If Glory Girl and Alexandria can be heroes despite being complete bitches, Taylor can be a bit brutal in her methods without much trouble. It'll just take some time to rehabilitate her image so that the first thing people think when she breaks out the big guns isn't that she's relapsing to villainy.