My biggest problem with the million crossovers is that most of them seem to go out of their way to do the crossover in the worst way possible. If you are going to go with the "Taylor has powers but she's not technically a parahuman because reasons", you'd better have a good reason to do it and it should make sense in the Worm universe, or it turns quickly into fandom wank where whatever crossover power they choose is infinitely superior to Worm superpowers (coughMoIcough).

 

Of course, a well written fic can pull anything off, there is no doubt about that. However, you lose tolerance if some specific trope, plot point or convention gets repeated over and over again, most of the time not that competently and well, you kinda get sick of it.

And I guess that's my issue with the things I've mentioned. Not that they are inherently bad, because they are not, but because I have seen them too often in fics that now, after the Worm reading binge that I had for a few months has died down, wouldn't even consider guilty pleasures any more.

Worm isn't that big of a fandom to begin with, so, we can't exactly be picky and I kinda read every Worm fic for a while, so, if most of these stories share so much, repeat the same stuff over and over again, well, by now, unless someone does so with a new spin on them or does them extremely well, don't want to see it for a while.

 

Why? They're either a parahuman (having the shard, and new brain growths) or they're not. What's to explain?

In MoI she had a download of a person's intellect and memories due to an outside godlike influence. She suddenly became uber-smart. That's it. There weren't any powers to be had so she wouldn't be a parahuman in any way. Call it what you want, but Tony Stark isn't superhuman or parahuman in any way except by his design.

 

Sure, no argument there. I split more hairs than I should, partly because I think that some fanfics end up blindly rejecting a convention in the belief that the weariness is over the topic, and not the execution.

Novelty is easily confused for quality, and repetition clears that up. Short of amnesia, it's hard to arrange truly fresh eyes... and custom stales most stories.

Fandom expansion is unlikely to hit until Wildbow finishes editing and publishes. Technically, there's probably room to grow by pulling in non-worm fanfic readers, but there's no substitute for primary source popularity.

 

Once Worm is published, you better prepare for the majority of new fics to be Regent/Grue, Gallant/Aegis, Kid Win/Clockblocker, and probably contain more than you ever wanted to see of Jack Slash.

Also a lot more 'Taylor triggers with alternate powers and joins the Wards' fics too.

 

The author and fans can know that she's not a parahuman. The problem is when the authors insist on shoving it down everyone's throat in the story.

No one should ever take Taylor seriously when, in MoI and MoLuther she says she's not a parahuman. Taylo shouldn't take herself seriously because it's fucking stupid.

But they're too wedded to their meta-knowledge so they actually argue (this has actually happened) that a teenager building a machine that can revolutionize the energy industry is not a parahuman or that people wouldn't laugh in her face when she says she isn't.

Well, that's not fair. She's either a parahuman or a victim of Teacher.

 

I'm confused. Where does she shove this down everyone's throat in MoI? I'm pretty sure she tells a lot of people she's a Tinker to avoid just this thing. Before and during the Endbringer battle she does this. I'm fairly sure she does this with the lawyer guy as well. Edit: (Double-checked the lawyer. She doesn't say one way or the other.)

In fact, I think the only people she does tell the truth to are Lisa and Danny.

 

I'll gladly accept tons of shitty fics if it would mean that we would also get the equivalent of The Girl From Whirlpool, Hammered Down, Ascension Trilogy, Alexandra Quick, Victory at Ostagar, Denarian Series, Howling Wind and so on.

 

Hah. It'll be like dumping sewage into radioactive waste. Equally unpalatable before and after.

I'm not sure there's even one genuinely good Worm story still being updated.

 

Nemrut: Victory at Ostagar was so much fun... taking a look at those on that list I haven't read.

Iztiak: depends, I guess. What are your tastes?

 

All of Thinker6's stories are still updating.

Speak With the Dead updates once a month.

Journey of the Dragonfly updates a couple of times a month, although that's more of a guilty pleasure than anything else - I love late game Weaver, and there are so very few of those stories out there.

But yeah, there are too few genuinely good fics in the fandom. Most of them are shitty alt!power stories that get abandoned after the author finishes showing off Taylor's cool new power and has no idea what to do.

Its kinda funny, given the popularity of Dark!Harry stories in the HP fandom, I would expect Taylor to be more vicious and ruthless in fanfics than she is in canon. Instead the opposite seems to be true - the only version of Taylor more morally dubious than her canon self is that of Weaver Nine (Cenotaph and Wake get honorable mentions, but most of that is attacking acceptable targets).

Also, there is a surprising lack of Birdcage!Taylor stories, given the popularity of Azkaban!Harry. Too few time travel fics (I would love to see Taylor go back and try to kill Eidolon), post-epilogue fics and Taylor raised outside of the US as well. I guess it all comes down to the inexplicable emphasis on bullying, 'fixing' Taylor's relationship with Danny, Getting a new OP power, joining/turning down the wards, fighting the local villains.... and then nothing. That's 90% of the worm fandom right there.

 

Eh what would it really add to the story though? Emma is just one of those characters i'm content to forget about.

I can't even remember what happened to her in canon after Taylor's public reveal at their school.

 

I know. That viciousness and willing to do what needs to be done is a key part of her canon character, and one of the things I liked most about her. Most fics just have her join the Wards, sue the trio, get Sophia imprisoned, just have everything go her way.

I don't see how anyone can have fun reading a Worm fix-it fic. The "It gets worse" aspect of the story was awesome because of how it effected the mental state of each character.

 

Eh, you definitely have your vengeance fics, but generally people write fanfic out of a desire to do something different in the same sandbox. Having Taylor go full Terminator is too close to canon; they want to fix stuff and make her happy!

Dark Harry fics came because he wasn't an action hero. Taylor definitely is, so instead you get waif fics.

 

Speaking of waif fics...

I've been going through this thread, and I haven't seen this one posted, but there's a ton of posts so it's possible I missed it. And I'm going to couch this in a TON of caveats because it's NOT a good fic. Taylor acts more like she's 8 than 15 (very OOC), the writing isn't anything special, and it doesn't really go anywhere. However...

With Friends Like These

This is one of those "the threat is greater than the execution" fics, because the premise made me laugh out loud, and the fic was actually pretty stupid.

The premise is that when Taylor triggers, the QA shard decides she needs friends more than Eidolon needs worthy opponents. The Endbringers pop out of existence and reappear as Taylor's pets, basically. They're about 9 inches tall. (Yes, they still have their powers.)

The opening scene is mini-Behemoth heating up her bathwater while mini-Leviathan scrubs her with a loofah.

If you're sleep deprived (like I was when I read it) or on painkillers, it has a strange kind of charm. Worth reading the first couple hundred words, anyway. Again, not a good fic. Just thought I'd put it out there in case anyone got a chuckle out of the premise / opening like I did.

 

Yeah a time travel fic where Taylor has to set herself up to be a big enough threat that Eidolon won't have to make the Endbringers would be pretty cool.

She could make something similar to the S9 using guys like Sleeper, the fairy queen and the Indian guy who blew himself up in the Behemoth fight.

It would present an interesting story to see how she can handle such a situation where she stops the Endbringers from forming but still has to cause destruction, panic and mayhem that's on par with what they did. Defeating the purpose .

 

The single most puzzling absence in the fanfics is actually the canonical Ward Years.

Weaver, dealing with the bureaucracy on the one hand and the challenges of running an offensively-minded strike team on the other, with the new Endbringers in the background and S9's return in the future... there's room for a lot of interesting things in there. Not least the fact that these years are when she has to deal with her father, the public, and her team of heroes.

You get most of the virtues of a Ward-fic combined with late-story determination, a mostly wide-open canvas... (and, actually, that may be what deters).

 

For Emma, that's hillarious

 

Wait, really? I don't remember that at all. Was it in an interlude or something?