I think instead of rewriting the last arc, which was IMO excellent, Wildbow should insert an interlude arc spanning the time skip. Write a chapter showing us how Grue met his new girlfriend, a chapter showing how Imp killed Heartbreaker, another showing Parian growing into a leadership role. Another showing scenes from a Endbringer attacks during the two years. That kind of thing. Like some of you said, the huge time skip is unavoidable, but this would make it less shocking to suddenly be dropped in the future with no idea how we got there or what the characters have gone through in the meantime.

 

That could be exactly what he writes next, which would be perfect imo. Someone should mention it to him.

 

Am I the only one less interested in the Undersiders, and more interested in what happens with the Wards/Protectorate/Faultline's crew? Especially Weld goddamnit. I thought we'd be seeing more of him. The only Undersider I'm actually interested in hearing about/from is Tattletale.

Edit : to clarify, I mean during the 2 years we skipped over. If we see Wildbow go back and add some scenes from that time period I'd rather not see the Undersiders. I'm interested in seeing them in 2013 with this reunion that's happening. But if we get more 2011-2012 I want to see different characters.

Also, was it ever confirmed that Clockblocker died?

 

Yeah, but at the same time - as much as I love seeing the heroes and the other groups, as much as I love the newer arcs with Taylor as a hero - aren't the Undersiders are more or less the main characters of Worm?

I mean, we're told in this chapter that Taylor's been with the Wards far longer than she was ever with the Undersiders - but from a reader perspective, we've only known those characters for a handful of arcs, whereas we've known Lisa, Brian, and Rachel from the very beginning. It'd be kind of strange for them to just drop out of the story for 2 years.

 

The short answer is no, Taylor is the main character of Worm.

But I understand why you feel like you do, since her time with the Chicago Wards has been a mere footnote compared to her time with the Undersiders. At the beginning of this arc, Wildbow had intended to make an interlude arc of Scarab that would have presumably bridged the inevitable timeskip. Instead, Wildbow clearly had a good chunk of story he wanted to tell from Taylor's perspective, and that's great.

I think he should keep Scarab 1-5 as is and then cut to an interlude arc that spans the two year period where we get to hear things like what the repercussions of Taylor's aggressive offensive against villains are and how this has affected her standing within the PRT, as well as the impact of the new Endbringers and the like. I'd also be very curious to know whether Taylor got invited back to the Legion of Doom meetings and what came out of them.

Scarab 6 should be moved to the start of the next main story arc, where the End of the World kicks off. And no, I'm not particularly curious as to what the Undersiders are up to. I think Scarab 6 as written gives us a very clear picture of what's been going on in BB. If Wildbow wanted to devote a chapter to them, I wouldn't be disappointed, but their significance in regards to Taylor's story is very diminished.

 

I think I can get behind the idea of the "arc" ending before Scarab. The time skip should have happened after New Delhi, with a stronger climax at the end - Skitter is more harshly punished by the PRT, yet, she decides she made the right decisions and believes she found "her place".

Scarab reads like, "The Aimless Adventure of Skitter". They're good adventures and they could all converge to a proper climax and resolution but it would take a lot of work. Teasing us with what Slitter does in Scarab and then jumping ahead was a very poor decision. If you're going to skip two years of development in a story like this... when Skitter has done so fucking much in less than a month of her life... that's a lot of potential development. In two years what couldn't Skitter do politically? She could totally wipe Chicago out of its villains, methinks. The set-up for this new arc is also out of this world, with all of the Undersiders having changed immensely in two years (or at least, that's the impression I've gotten). That's what I don't like about all this, we're supplanting existing conflicts with totally new ones and it feels like we're only going to get teased or flashback'd to death about how they were resolved, instead of having them just be resolved in a forward narrative sense.

Wildbow could end the story next chapter with an eighty year old Skitter. She could giggle with her husband about "all those wild adventures I went on" and "how I saved the world" and we'd feel similarly cheated.

Worm so far has been holding my attention so strongly because of the tension that's constantly being built - some shit happens, then worse shit happens. To jump forward in time is to basically nullify existing conflict, because... we know everything turns out okay. Okay, so maybe it doesn't, but Skitter is still alive, and apparently so are the Chicago Wards. Knowing that no really bad shit has happened kills all of the built-up tension. If bad shit DID happen and let's say the Wards didn't make it these past two years (a highly likely scenario given Skitter's desire to throw caution into the wind at times), the impact is stunted because it's all in the past - we can't live with Skitter's grief because chances are she's already gotten over it, when we, the audience, can't even begin to understand the circumstances around it all. And since we don't see any bad shit that has happened yet, well... I dunno.

Time shifts are the hardest to pull off right in writing, probably. But, still.

 

Anyone want to speculate on Gray Boy's power? He reminds me of Scapegoat, psycho clone Eidolon, and Coil.

I remember during the Echidna arc Taylor saying she realliy didn't like the implications of that flickering power. It stood out to me at the time- because it seemed like Scapegoat's power, and I didn't understand why that worried Taylor so much. Now I'm thinking that she was worried because it looked like Gray Boy's power.

So, with the implication that Gray Boy got multiple powers- I'm thinking he lives in multiple realities simultaneously, kind of like Coil (but not with the conscious deliberate splitting Coil does), and he can swap things near him Eidolon clone/Scapegoat style. And I'm thinking he uses this to steal powers- and he's starting with Bonesaw here.

 

I hate the fact that this chapter made me feel for fucking nightmare fuel Bonesaw.

Other than that good chapter, interesting to learn that passengers thrive on conflict and somehow alter their hosts personality to facilitate this need.

 

God damn.

That was fucked up.

 

Recently I saw a comment about Worm crossovers, and it made me think of the possibilities of Skitter in Gotham City. Maybe I should've been thinking of Bonesaw instead, since she definitely has the scary as fuck part down, and now she has the morally conflicted part too.

 

Given the whole "alternate universe" stuff being canon and in-universe, it would be trivial to crossover Worm with anything.

 

Heh, did anyone else noticed that the chapter was initially posted under the table of contents as Interlude: Taylor's Mod? Tricky little bastard that Wildbow.

 

Wow, I used to hate Bonesaw. She was so OP, so unsympathetic-- now she's freakin awesome. Love this.

Also, Contessa being one awesome motherfucker with 2 sentences. In any other universe, Contessa's power would be incredibly overpowered. Instead, Wildbow somehow makes it work. So far, I'm loving this interlude arc.

 

Clockblocker is alive!

 

Literally what I came here to say. I mean the chapter was cool and I can't wait to see what Weaver plans to get around Jacks plans, but Clock Blocker is alive! Especially after we weren't sure for a bit.

 

I do so love the Slaughterhouse Nine. Jack Slash always plays the most interesting games

 

And they were hands down the scariest part of the story so far.

 

The SH9 are interesting because they're not broken. They're not monolithic death machines that need hundreds of capes to even think about taking them on. That said, I'm not sure how I feel about them being back. I hope Wildbow takes a very different approach to them than the first time.

 

He "sort of" fixed Bonesaw with that interlude, though she still kind of grates on me. But if he can make them "real" characters instead of obnoxious assholes with infamy they just don't deserve... I won't mind them being the "main" antagonists (or at least, they seem that way). Jack knows how to make things scary and unpredictable (Nice Guy was pretty scary). I'd have preferred if he died waaay back, but that's just impossible at this point.

I also don't care for this whole "clone" nonsense. Urgh! But at least the clones seem to have powers that are interesting.

 

The S9 do deserve their infamy, even before the cloning. They're an S-rank threat for a reason.