You really know your life is fucked up when the end of the world lifts a heavy burden off your shoulders.

 

Okay, am in Arc 24, since Worm took over me for quite some time now. I take what I said about the heavyness back.

I mean, it wasn't wrong, per se, very huge chunks of the story are just misery, stress and unfairness for Skitter and the people she cares about but it got so engrossing and captivating that it honestly didn't matter, I was just so hooked.

That said, I really appreciate Regent, as he is the only person, alongside Imp, to bring a bit of fun and banter into this. Those two are continuously hilarious and that was something that was truly missing in this story for the longest time.

So, yeah, still absolutely loving this. The scene of Skitter's "arrest" in the school, her discussion with five heroes while she was exposed and unarmed and how she dealt with them with reputation and wits alone has become one of my favourite moments of fiction. Especially Clockblocker's remark of "Holy shit, it really is her" sold that moment to me. Loved it.

Skitter killing what was pretty much Wonder Woman with bugs while handcuffed and her head on the table was also a pretty powerful image.

Her becoming a Hero was a step that had been coming for some time and while it is interesting, the first two or three chapters were really unpleasant. It just sucks when a character you love goes through such unfair and petty bullshit, especially when we know she is and deserves better. That said, I liked that it was, despite the loss to whatshisface, the more or less relaxed atmosphere, something that happened for the second time, I believe. Gave us a room to breathe and I was actually entertained by the notion that she would only fight using butterflies for a while.

The redemption story of D & D is rather interesting, as is the relationship they have built with Skitter, or Weaver, now.

To the name change, I think Weaver fits her more than Skitter, given her usage of Silk and, more importantly, her penchant for weaving plans and strageties but really, I do not think this will last. While it may fit her better, Skitter is her name, and I have no doubt that she will reclaim it at some point. New beginning or not, that's too big of a part of her identity.

So yeah, thanks for bringing this to my attention, DLP, love the heck out of this. One of my favourite stories as of now. Hope there will be book and e book versions of this soon. Need to find a better way to read the more recent chapters on my phone.

Anyway, Endbringer attack, reading that now.

 

Latest update was good, I was happy to see more of Defiant. Does anyone remember what we know about Narwhal? She's part of the Guild I know, and her power seems to be forcefields but I think she's been mentioned a few other times.

Interested to see what Taylor is onto with the Endbringers, too.

 

... I'm sorry.

 

Narwhal is the leader of The Guild and was also the head of the Toronto Protectorate Team. She was used as an early example of someone who can beat the Manton Effect (her force fields can cut through even human flesh, i.e. she can make them appear inside someone) back when it was first explained. This indicates that she is possibly a second trigger cape, but such was never confirmed.

During the fight with Leviathan, which is the first time she appears, she's knocked out of the fight but not killed after slicing him up pretty damn badly with her force field creation power. Then she disappeared from the story until we see her again in Sting.

 

FUCK


filler

 

I really enjoyed reading your posts- but I'd suggest you don't read the stuff others are posting here (even responses to your posts) until you've finished. There are lots of untagged spoilers.

I mean seriously, in the last few chapters...

Spoiler

WHY DID YOU HIGHLIGHT THIS? THAT WAS A BAD IDEA. STOP IT.

 

Yes... There's that feeling. You know the one. The feeling that Taylor is gearing up and we're going to see something awesome.

 

I laughed.

 

I figured. Had already read his death before I checked the thread, so, the comment didn't help >_>

Okay, so, have completely caught up now, and wow, has it been one hell of a ride. Can't remember the last time I was so completely engrossed in a story like that.

Noteworthy points:

Defiant, over the course of the story, has become one of my favourite characters. Especially when he said this:

“I never guarantee anything,” Defiant grunted, echoing my thoughts. “Except for a select few promises I make to people I love and people I hate.”

True awesome, right there. Yeah, he is a rigid douche but a good one to read about. Probably not when one is talking to him.

Arcs 1-22 are amazing, just utterly brilliant. I won't call it perfect, there were little things that could have been better, sure, but nothing to truly complain about. It was just fun and amazing. True, I didn't really like the relationship with Grue but it was handled really well in how it developed and ultimately pandered out. ( Mainly because I never liked Grue all that much. Even before he got traumatized, he seemed so uninteresting and bland. Still think that she should have paired off with Tattletale at some point, hopefully it will still happen)

Then, to me personally, the story takes a small dive. It's not that I find it illogical that Taylor joined the side of law, but I didn't particularly like it.

The Drone and Scarab Arcs were just depressing and in a way unreal, unbelievable. Again, not contrived or illogical but I felt disconnected from it. What was up with the capes looking down that much on her, taunting her and the like?

I get that she, a sixteen year old and scrawny girl who is forced to use butterflies does not make for the most intimidating picture but she took control over a city that had some serious big names in it and she triumphed and outlived all of them. She killed Alexandria and dealt with numerous S-class threats. She was a Crime-Lord who was, both, beloved and feared in her city.

How is it a good idea to underestimate her at all, to needlessly antagonize her? I get that the bureaucrats were that dumb, but the capes, villain and hero alike? I even understand that people are not losing their shit when they realize who they face, as someone in this thread had said earlier, it is very much like an intricate game of rock-paper-scissors and what works against one cape, doesn't necessarily work against another, but I would expect some wariness and precaution.

That said, this wasn't really the biggest problem I had. In a way, these chapters were brilliant because they worked exactly as the author intended. One didn't feel as if this was Skitter or Taylor but rather Weaver. It didn't feel right, it had this inherent wrongness as to how Taylor behaved and acted and lived. She was unhappy and alone and was constantly blocked by administration and pettiness on every step on the way as she tried to do something for the impeding apocalypse and yeah, I get that joining the good side was a strategically sound and necessary decision but still, I can't help but feel that it would have been better for her to have remained independent, build her power base there and then deal with the government as an equal not this small keg trying to influence things.

As to the timeskip, I concur with the general opinion that it really felt off. Not only because those were two years of unhappiness for Taylor as she had to spend it in a certain mindset with people with whom she couldn't grow all that close but it really was a bit weird for it to happen midchapter and for there not to be any interlude arcs to cover some stuff in it.

It also feels a little unbelievable that so few people died in those two years.

One question on that, is Miss Militia still alive? Last time I remember seeing her was around Arc 22-23, was she in the Crushed Arc or later?

Crushed Arc was once again a step up, if only for her interaction with her old teammates. Endbringers are one of my favourite elements of this story, so any big scale fight against them is awesome.

As to the Sting Arc, it really didn't convey that much danger, the excitement that earlier big fights had. For one, I didn't particularly care about Skitter's new team. Golem especially just was an uninteresting character to me and his beef with Jack really wasn't as gripping as it could have been.

I think most of this comes from the fact that Skitter felt off as a person as she had long lost the equilibrium of her earlier persona. It wasn't exactly bad, this had highlights like the Dragon and Defiant stuff that happened and Taylor becoming even harsher in a way, killing children and the like, and I really liked the Undersiders in this, especially Imp's banter and Rachel's loyalty and deference to Skitter. Bonesaw's character got leagues more interesting as well.

But really, all these clones really didn't seem as terrifying as they should have been.

I do have one question though:

The powers the capes have, come through their passengers, right? As in, each passenger has a specific set of abilities, or is it that each passenger is basically a blank plate and the trigger event determines which powers they get?

Either way, how does cloning work, in this case? You can clone a person, but can you clone their passenger? Doesn't seem like you could. And even if you can clone the passenger, as unlikely as it seems, wouldn't the clones need the trigger even as well for their powers to activate? And seeing that most likely couldn't experience the same trigger events, doubt Jack and Bonesaw knew the trigger events of all of them to duplicate them, would they even awaken the same powers?

Maybe I overlooked an explanation on how that worked but to me, it seems as the cloning process shouldn't have worked. In fact, I was hoping that this would be the way it played out. That Jack had the clones but they had no powers.

I had also hoped that they would have gotten a few bugs to Panacea so that she would make Taylor a few bugs who would increase her range that could reproduce, so that Taylor could basically have the whole of America under surveillance and be able to find and pursue Jack and his gang of misfits and clones the whole time. I know that the officials wouldn't have let that happen but still. Hope this will happen now, though.

However, with the Arcs 27 and now 28, things have gone infinitely better. Scion as an enemy is terrifying and awesome. The mood is build exceptionally well and I really liked the various released prisoners, especially the Fairy Queen.

Her suddenly pulling Clockblocker's spirit was a punch in the gut though and I may or may not have made an unmanly sound at that. Poor guy had really grown on me, never really catching a break. Especially liked that he stood up for Taylor, seeing that he fought against her. Takes a lot of character to back her up. Don't know about you guys, but if someone had covered me from head to toe with vicious bugs that attacked me and tried to crawl in my body through mouth, nose and ear (and hopefully nowhere else), I don't think I would have been functional afterwards, let alone defend her.

As to the end of the world scenario, I am weirdly happy. Because Taylor is finally free from all the shackles that people tried to put her under. She doesn't need to be Skitter, the Warlord, or Weaver, the restricted hero.

Now, she can be Taylor, the Insect Queen and lead and protect her people.

Agree with Howdy here, huge worldending monsters? Not many options to deal with. But shitty, humans beings who preyed on the weak and who selfishly make things worse without a thought on the bigger picture and the important things?

Taylor is pretty good with that.

Seeing her reconnect with her friends and have them share pretty awesome moment, and have them plan for the future, that was great to see.

So yeah, am looking forward to the next chapters and how Taylor will deal with those odds.

Also, oddly enough, the team is pretty female centric by now. We have Taylor, Tattletale, Imp, Rachel, Canary and maybe Shadow Stalker, Panacea and Bonesaw. Not complaining, finding that rather cool. Not that many capes left but makes for an interesting team.

So, Arcs 1-22,24,27 and what we have seen from 28 are 5/5
Arcs 23,25 and 26 were more of a 3-4/5

Ultimately, really loved the story, sorry for the long rambling.

 

Newest chapter, interesting to see Panacea and Bonesaw plus Taylor having relay bugs is awesome.

Now I wasn't expecting them to go meet the Simurgh of all people.

 

Holy shit, they're going to talk to the Simurgh? The one that drives people crazy and causes disasters by manipulating people? Taylor is also bringing along the guy whose balls she poisoned and a psychopath who has despised her for years for her chat with an Endbringer. She's pretty much gone full blown crazy and it's awesome.

 

Well, with Tattletale and Skitter, they have two people who are exceedingly good at talking, so, that can only end well.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong? =P

 

I have to admit, bringing Lung, the guy who MANAGED TO SOLO DRIVE OFF A FIGHTY ENDBRINGER, along to a talk with the endbringer who can make people go mental and do suicide attacks, sounds like a really, really stupid plan.

 

Lung never accomplished that, Kyushu(sp?) was completely destroyed. It is pretty amazing that he could take Leviathan yes but he didn't accomplish anything.

 

Lung stopped believing in victory over Endbringers ever since Kyushu sinked. Only thing he believes in is payback. And Taylor is on his shit list, together with the Cauldron and the Chinese. He'll try to double-cross them before the end of this arc for sure.

Any bets on what part of the body will Lung lose this time?

 

Actually, I think Lung would get off on fighting the Endbringers. Get that same high he got before his trigger- and when he fought Leviathan.

I still think he's gonna try to doublecross everyone- but I believe he will also fight the Endbringers/Scion. Not because he wants to save the world or work with the heroes- but because he just wants to fight as hard as he can- he gets off on it.

And keep in mind, Lung felt he was victorious over Leviathan. He just didn't think it was possible to kill it- that fighting again would have the same end result. But now, because of Behemoth, he should know better.

 

Lung is probably the only cape we know of that could conceivably kill Scion in a straight up fight. If he gets the time to build up to full power (whatever that is, because I'm not sure he reached it when fighting Leviathan) he could probably go toe-to-toe with Scion and win.

 

Seriously doubt that. Lung might not have an upper limit, or one that exceeds even the Endbringers, maybe, but to Scion, it really doesn't matter to him how hard you hit him.

So, even if Lung were to fight the hulk for 20 days and then take on Scion, I doubt it would make much difference. He might put up a good fight, if only because Scion would take a bit longer to kill him but ultimately, he would still go down.

 

Well actually the Eidolon interlude suggested that it is in fact possible to hurt Scion, so you never know.