(Original post by Blastinus)
Kaleigh Jones...where to begin. I guess let's start with her profile. Apparently she's got multiple personalities and has used them to become a versatile model, performing a number of nude shots at the age of 16. I'm reasonably sure there's a law against that, but let's set that aside, since naturally, one of her personalities is a little girl, and the other one is obsessed with sex. Kaleigh herself is just...there, I guess? She doesn't get a description of her personality besides being the "normal" one, whatever that means.
Right, well, first thread is just a oneshot where Kaleigh, "Carly" (the little girl), and "Freya" (the sex-obsessed one) have a giant argument with one another. It's as by-the-numbers as you might expect, so moving right along, the next thread has Carly go to the river and do nothing, before Freya takes over and leaves, since nobody responded for a full week. Finally, Adam Dodd kills the three of them in a Dodd oneshot where he naturally picks the least sympathetic personality and has her become generically villainous so he can justify shooting her in the head. After all, if he actually killed someone who was just trying to survive, then his character would be more ambiguous.
There's nothing to say about Kaleigh. The personalities are just another gimmick character and there's never an opportunity to flesh them out. Kind of a waste of time, really.
Right then, let's do another.
The V1 Read-A-Thon
(Original post by Blastinus)
Arsenio Thanodeus is a Greek kid with a dead mom and a fascination with wiccan lore. Sounds like a decent start. Too bad he only has one thread that's actually considered to be canon. We'll unpack that can of worms pretty shortly, but let's start with his four-page intro thread.
Both Arsenio and his new buddy Drew Lynn started before they could get their weapons, so at least we get to skip that part of the island wake-up checklist. Instead the two of them talk and get to know each other a bit better. Arsenio has a pretty severe protective streak, especially when it comes to women, and that'll turn out to be a pretty fatal character trait. But first, it's non-canon time, as the two of them schlep over to the warehouse and are not-so-politely informed that since there's a thread going on already that contradicts the details in their thread, they should close their thread and either integrate with the one in progress or go somewhere else. It's pretty harsh and honestly a bit tactless, but because Arsenio's thread becomes a mess of OOC complaints, that's why its canonicity is in question.
Instead, they just return to their original thread as if they never left it. Of course, Swoosh isn't quite done with being a pest towards the two of them:
Arsenio's life on the island was short-lived, but I found it to be a satisfactory story arc. He died a hero and a fighter, and I found nothing to complain about with him. Too bad all that stuff about wicca never made a difference to the story, but you can only do so much in a limited timeframe.
I'd love to do another, if possible.
Arsenio Thanodeus is a Greek kid with a dead mom and a fascination with wiccan lore. Sounds like a decent start. Too bad he only has one thread that's actually considered to be canon. We'll unpack that can of worms pretty shortly, but let's start with his four-page intro thread.
Both Arsenio and his new buddy Drew Lynn started before they could get their weapons, so at least we get to skip that part of the island wake-up checklist. Instead the two of them talk and get to know each other a bit better. Arsenio has a pretty severe protective streak, especially when it comes to women, and that'll turn out to be a pretty fatal character trait. But first, it's non-canon time, as the two of them schlep over to the warehouse and are not-so-politely informed that since there's a thread going on already that contradicts the details in their thread, they should close their thread and either integrate with the one in progress or go somewhere else. It's pretty harsh and honestly a bit tactless, but because Arsenio's thread becomes a mess of OOC complaints, that's why its canonicity is in question.
Instead, they just return to their original thread as if they never left it. Of course, Swoosh isn't quite done with being a pest towards the two of them:
Could be worse, I suppose, but if I were in their position, having just been shouted out of a thread, I'd consider that to be not very funny at all. Regardless, noticing that Drew got a gun while all he got was a crowbar, Arsenio suspects that he might not make it to the end of the game. That's rather prescient, because no sooner does a new pair arrive than so does Cody Jenson, dragging along Lyndi. Opening fire on the group because he's Cody Jenson, he lands three good shots on Arsenio, but the big man doesn't quite die yet, since he tries desperately to get a good hit on Cody so the group can make it out. To his credit, he ends up providing the distraction necessary for Lyndi to escape, and the rest of the group follows suit soon after. So while he dies without doing anything to Cody, the fact that he was willing to keep fighting through his wounds for just a little longer was what made the difference in that confrontation.((Bearing in mind about 7 people have arrived in the woods since this post died, I'd re-direct this post to that thread if I were you... unless we're just assuming they're in different parts of the woods? Could happen, I guess... OK, ignore me XDD))
Arsenio's life on the island was short-lived, but I found it to be a satisfactory story arc. He died a hero and a fighter, and I found nothing to complain about with him. Too bad all that stuff about wicca never made a difference to the story, but you can only do so much in a limited timeframe.
I'd love to do another, if possible.
(Original post by Blastinus)
I see Ash Holmes' profile and a few alarm bells immediately sound. Things like "Has no concept of basic morality", "Obsessed with parkour and living for thrills", "Alienates others and doesn't have any friends", and of course "Dead parents." It's like going down a laundry list of every premade player trope imaginable, and I can't help but wonder if Ash was the blueprint by which future players were born.
First point of order, he's yet another character who got their smokes onto the island. And this actually matters, since in his one and only kill, he actually burns someone's hands with them, but first, he's got to try his hand at a regular conversation. Apparently he's decided to imitate every slasher horror character at once in his interaction with Xian, letting out a laugh that's like "a murder of crows" then talking in a harsh whisper. He's laying it on so thick, it's downright laughable. And Xian just responds with incredulity and mockery, so even she's not buying into it. He lets out a bunch of pseudo-intellectual garbage that ultimately doesn't mean anything, and Xian responds by backing off and heading for the hills.
Next thread, he encounters the pregnant Sophie Maraschino and extends an "offer" to her to let her out of her misery. Fearfully reaching for her weapon, she shoots him full in the chest, but doesn't know about his assigned weapon: a kevlar vest. This reveal is genuinely disquieting and eerie, and I actually have to give Ash's handler credit for framing this scene the way they do, because it feels like something out of a slasher horror film. He gets shot, looks down at where Sophie hit him, and then starts walking at her again. And to his credit, he just holds her down and drowns her in a stream without doing the downright disgusting and tasteless stuff that pregnant characters would be subjected to in later versions. All of this gave him some definite bonus points in my eyes. There's actual depth to this character that he didn't exhibit in his opening thread.
I suppose it's only fitting then that this decent villain would get done in by a generic crazy. Cillian Crowe is a babbling idiot who wants to play "games" with people, and I dislike him immensely from the little I see of him. As the two of them tussle, rolling back and forth in the sand, Ash and Cillian give each other a lot of shilling in how the two of them fight, which I appreciate. They don't try to force a simple conclusion, and the end of the fight where Ash takes a cleaver to the brain feels like there was a decent leadup to it and a proper payoff.
I wasn't sold on Ash at first, but once I saw him properly in action, I felt like he had potential to be a more likable Cody Jenson. Shame that his story ended as early as it did.
One more please!
I see Ash Holmes' profile and a few alarm bells immediately sound. Things like "Has no concept of basic morality", "Obsessed with parkour and living for thrills", "Alienates others and doesn't have any friends", and of course "Dead parents." It's like going down a laundry list of every premade player trope imaginable, and I can't help but wonder if Ash was the blueprint by which future players were born.
First point of order, he's yet another character who got their smokes onto the island. And this actually matters, since in his one and only kill, he actually burns someone's hands with them, but first, he's got to try his hand at a regular conversation. Apparently he's decided to imitate every slasher horror character at once in his interaction with Xian, letting out a laugh that's like "a murder of crows" then talking in a harsh whisper. He's laying it on so thick, it's downright laughable. And Xian just responds with incredulity and mockery, so even she's not buying into it. He lets out a bunch of pseudo-intellectual garbage that ultimately doesn't mean anything, and Xian responds by backing off and heading for the hills.
Next thread, he encounters the pregnant Sophie Maraschino and extends an "offer" to her to let her out of her misery. Fearfully reaching for her weapon, she shoots him full in the chest, but doesn't know about his assigned weapon: a kevlar vest. This reveal is genuinely disquieting and eerie, and I actually have to give Ash's handler credit for framing this scene the way they do, because it feels like something out of a slasher horror film. He gets shot, looks down at where Sophie hit him, and then starts walking at her again. And to his credit, he just holds her down and drowns her in a stream without doing the downright disgusting and tasteless stuff that pregnant characters would be subjected to in later versions. All of this gave him some definite bonus points in my eyes. There's actual depth to this character that he didn't exhibit in his opening thread.
I suppose it's only fitting then that this decent villain would get done in by a generic crazy. Cillian Crowe is a babbling idiot who wants to play "games" with people, and I dislike him immensely from the little I see of him. As the two of them tussle, rolling back and forth in the sand, Ash and Cillian give each other a lot of shilling in how the two of them fight, which I appreciate. They don't try to force a simple conclusion, and the end of the fight where Ash takes a cleaver to the brain feels like there was a decent leadup to it and a proper payoff.
I wasn't sold on Ash at first, but once I saw him properly in action, I felt like he had potential to be a more likable Cody Jenson. Shame that his story ended as early as it did.
One more please!
(Original post by CPB)
Sven Kekule:
I wrote Sven's writeup. Here it is, though it is not particularly long. I disappoint, I am aware, but I did this all in one go so please forgive me for that and any details I may have missed along the way. I tried my best all the same. Still spoilered, out of tradition. Please understand.
I could take another.
Sven Kekule:
I wrote Sven's writeup. Here it is, though it is not particularly long. I disappoint, I am aware, but I did this all in one go so please forgive me for that and any details I may have missed along the way. I tried my best all the same. Still spoilered, out of tradition. Please understand.
Spoiler!
I could take another.
(Original post by Flare)
Definitely didn't forget about this, no siree.
I was GONNA comment that Hannah Juett's profile was super refreshingly normal, but then right at the end she walks in on her boyfriend's dead body after he commits suicide. Her profile specifically states that "she vowed never to let anyone she knew die unsaved again" ('unsaved' referring to Christianity and the afterlife and all that jazz), so in one fell swoop she's been obviously set up as a religious fanatic who could either go around trying to heroically save people because God or go crazy and start trying to off the heathens and sinners because God. Good to know this stereotype has been around for a while!
Her first thread is a oneshot where her handler, the well-known guitarjack87, plays both Hannah and another student Adib Harrabi. Hannah's pack has a gun in it, but when Adib comes in, she's doubtful of his trustworthiness and lies about what weapon she has. She soon begins to trust him more, but accidentally shows the gun when she opens her bag, so Adib freaks out and threatens her and she freaks out back, paranoia builds on itself, you know how it goes. It ends with Hannah shooting him point blank and killing him before running off in horror at her own actions.
I'm honestly pretty into this scene as a starting point. Given how many first threads are just people standing around, asking if other people are playing and trying to make threads, having action right out of the gate is a welcome change of pace. The build-up from Hannah trying to take the pacifistic religious route and avoid conflict to her reluctantly lashing out in self-defense seems natural given the tension of the situation. And while her faith plays a big part in a lot of her inner thoughts and narration, it rarely comes across as over-the-top cheesy or unnatural, just a very religious teenage girl. It is kiiiiiiinda sketch that the one Middle Eastern character I know of in V1 is a one thread-wonder that exists solely as a sacrifice to build up another person's story, buuuuuuut that's another discussion. Overall a strong scene!
Her next thread is much more mundane, a lot like the 'usual first thread' I just mentioned, as she runs into Lucinda Garrett and teams up with her after they confirm they can trust each other. Not too much to talk about, but I do like how Hannah's paranoia comes through in certain spots, bursting out into awkward and off-putting laughter at one point and making nervous jokes about her gun. There isn't a whole novel dwelling on the fact that she just killed a guy, but the feelings are obviously there, just in the process of being shoved into the back of her mind as much as she can. It gives this sense that she *might* go all psycho murderer later on, but if she does it will seem more set up and natural while also not committing to the idea too early on. More good writing, woah~
They head off and run into A D A M D O D D and also Amanda and stuff, who seem to be having a distressed moment. Lucinda kinda goes in and gets things all started up, so Hannah comes in half a page after cause she was 'lagging behind' and doing a bit of silent crying and all that. Aaaaand then she disappears again, only showing up for one last post right at the end of the thread. And what proceeds it is a whole lot of Lucinda monologuing and Dodd being introspective and shiz, so she doesn't have much to come back in on. NOW is when she starts being more explicit about 'oh no i killed a dude' internally, which honestly is kind of a disappointment given how well the under-the-surface writing was going. The jump in inactivity for her just kinda put her in a rough spot.
Just a random thought, but it's definitely some generational whiplash hearing that the game is down to just 40 players in a character's 3rd thread. V1 was a crazy time.
Hannah's final thread has come up, and she's been shuffled off to another handler entirely, and according to the wiki it was a new person that was allowed to slip in under the cap by adopting Hannah. What a novel idea! The new handler's writing is... well, it's alright. There's nothing super off or jarring about it, but Hannah seems kinda basic and one note, just a scared girl with a gun who doesn't want to shoot and just wants to help, but ~what if~... it's a bit of a drag with how much I was enjoying her before. Hannah is now also thinking about Kurt, her dead boyfriend, like every other line. It does bring to attention how surprisingly little guitarjack actually brought up such a big event in her life before now, but it's waaaaaay too far in the other direction. She's got no real drive or motivation now other than making ~Kurt~ proud, so nice female character writing there.
Hannah's not with Lucinda anymore thanks to the time-honored SOTF tradition of "we got separated ~somehow~", so she arrives at the warehouse where Sidney Crosby and Jack O'Connor and some other people are hanging out and biding their time. After doing the 'scared girl with gun' thing for a while she joins their shaky alliance and helps out with her first aid kit, only for the peace to be broken when the announcements come on and everyone finds out that Sidney just killed someone. Hannah attempts to play mediator because "NO ONE SHOULD DIE, *silent tears*", but the fight gets broken up due to other matters and the eventual arrival of other people, so Hannah just goes off and... sits around, really. There's a whole lot of action going on and she just kinda... stays out of it, doesn't really react, doesn't do anything of note. It's like the handler got tired of writing her trying to make peace so decided to give up on anything at all. She literally notes that people are leaving the warehouse room to go try and kill other people, and she doesn't do anything about it or react in any way shape or form, just twiddles her thumbs and goes "man all this FIGHTING, I miss Kurt".
Kurt is now my least favorite SOTF character. I am counting him now and I don't like him.
Eventually she goes to climb up the roof but then she hallucinates that KURT is there so she goes chasing after KURT but because he's not there she just slips and falls off the roof and she thinks about KURT on the way down and her last line as she crumples in a heap on the ground is "I love you KURT!!"
God.
CONCLUSION: Hannah makes me sad. Her first two threads are definitely enjoyable, her third one basically doesn't involve her, and her last (and by far her longest) thread is essentially "I'm scared and am thinking about Kurt" plastered over like 6 pages. Wasted potential at its finest.
Anotha
Definitely didn't forget about this, no siree.
I was GONNA comment that Hannah Juett's profile was super refreshingly normal, but then right at the end she walks in on her boyfriend's dead body after he commits suicide. Her profile specifically states that "she vowed never to let anyone she knew die unsaved again" ('unsaved' referring to Christianity and the afterlife and all that jazz), so in one fell swoop she's been obviously set up as a religious fanatic who could either go around trying to heroically save people because God or go crazy and start trying to off the heathens and sinners because God. Good to know this stereotype has been around for a while!
Her first thread is a oneshot where her handler, the well-known guitarjack87, plays both Hannah and another student Adib Harrabi. Hannah's pack has a gun in it, but when Adib comes in, she's doubtful of his trustworthiness and lies about what weapon she has. She soon begins to trust him more, but accidentally shows the gun when she opens her bag, so Adib freaks out and threatens her and she freaks out back, paranoia builds on itself, you know how it goes. It ends with Hannah shooting him point blank and killing him before running off in horror at her own actions.
I'm honestly pretty into this scene as a starting point. Given how many first threads are just people standing around, asking if other people are playing and trying to make threads, having action right out of the gate is a welcome change of pace. The build-up from Hannah trying to take the pacifistic religious route and avoid conflict to her reluctantly lashing out in self-defense seems natural given the tension of the situation. And while her faith plays a big part in a lot of her inner thoughts and narration, it rarely comes across as over-the-top cheesy or unnatural, just a very religious teenage girl. It is kiiiiiiinda sketch that the one Middle Eastern character I know of in V1 is a one thread-wonder that exists solely as a sacrifice to build up another person's story, buuuuuuut that's another discussion. Overall a strong scene!
Her next thread is much more mundane, a lot like the 'usual first thread' I just mentioned, as she runs into Lucinda Garrett and teams up with her after they confirm they can trust each other. Not too much to talk about, but I do like how Hannah's paranoia comes through in certain spots, bursting out into awkward and off-putting laughter at one point and making nervous jokes about her gun. There isn't a whole novel dwelling on the fact that she just killed a guy, but the feelings are obviously there, just in the process of being shoved into the back of her mind as much as she can. It gives this sense that she *might* go all psycho murderer later on, but if she does it will seem more set up and natural while also not committing to the idea too early on. More good writing, woah~
They head off and run into A D A M D O D D and also Amanda and stuff, who seem to be having a distressed moment. Lucinda kinda goes in and gets things all started up, so Hannah comes in half a page after cause she was 'lagging behind' and doing a bit of silent crying and all that. Aaaaand then she disappears again, only showing up for one last post right at the end of the thread. And what proceeds it is a whole lot of Lucinda monologuing and Dodd being introspective and shiz, so she doesn't have much to come back in on. NOW is when she starts being more explicit about 'oh no i killed a dude' internally, which honestly is kind of a disappointment given how well the under-the-surface writing was going. The jump in inactivity for her just kinda put her in a rough spot.
Just a random thought, but it's definitely some generational whiplash hearing that the game is down to just 40 players in a character's 3rd thread. V1 was a crazy time.
Hannah's final thread has come up, and she's been shuffled off to another handler entirely, and according to the wiki it was a new person that was allowed to slip in under the cap by adopting Hannah. What a novel idea! The new handler's writing is... well, it's alright. There's nothing super off or jarring about it, but Hannah seems kinda basic and one note, just a scared girl with a gun who doesn't want to shoot and just wants to help, but ~what if~... it's a bit of a drag with how much I was enjoying her before. Hannah is now also thinking about Kurt, her dead boyfriend, like every other line. It does bring to attention how surprisingly little guitarjack actually brought up such a big event in her life before now, but it's waaaaaay too far in the other direction. She's got no real drive or motivation now other than making ~Kurt~ proud, so nice female character writing there.
Hannah's not with Lucinda anymore thanks to the time-honored SOTF tradition of "we got separated ~somehow~", so she arrives at the warehouse where Sidney Crosby and Jack O'Connor and some other people are hanging out and biding their time. After doing the 'scared girl with gun' thing for a while she joins their shaky alliance and helps out with her first aid kit, only for the peace to be broken when the announcements come on and everyone finds out that Sidney just killed someone. Hannah attempts to play mediator because "NO ONE SHOULD DIE, *silent tears*", but the fight gets broken up due to other matters and the eventual arrival of other people, so Hannah just goes off and... sits around, really. There's a whole lot of action going on and she just kinda... stays out of it, doesn't really react, doesn't do anything of note. It's like the handler got tired of writing her trying to make peace so decided to give up on anything at all. She literally notes that people are leaving the warehouse room to go try and kill other people, and she doesn't do anything about it or react in any way shape or form, just twiddles her thumbs and goes "man all this FIGHTING, I miss Kurt".
Kurt is now my least favorite SOTF character. I am counting him now and I don't like him.
Eventually she goes to climb up the roof but then she hallucinates that KURT is there so she goes chasing after KURT but because he's not there she just slips and falls off the roof and she thinks about KURT on the way down and her last line as she crumples in a heap on the ground is "I love you KURT!!"
God.
CONCLUSION: Hannah makes me sad. Her first two threads are definitely enjoyable, her third one basically doesn't involve her, and her last (and by far her longest) thread is essentially "I'm scared and am thinking about Kurt" plastered over like 6 pages. Wasted potential at its finest.
Anotha
(Original post by Blastinus)
Dorian Greywood is a book nerd, and his handler would really like for you to know that, what with him being a BOOKworm who prizes his BOOKS above anything else and how he's really distraught that the bullies who picked on him mistreated his BOOKS and that caused him great distress whenever his BOOKS got torn or roughed up or burned or...Wait what? Folks were burning books in his school? That's pretty hardcore, not gonna lie.
Why's he coming from Sunnyside High in Florida instead of Barry Coleson anyway? Did the terrorists find him headfirst in a toilet and decide they might as well since they had some room in the back? Mysteries upon mysteries.
Suitable to his awkward geekiness, his first encounter on the island is downright embarrassing, since he succeeds in losing both his bag and his glasses and falling onto his derriere. He has a reason to be afraid, since all they gave him is razor blades in a version where characters seem to be drawing guns left and right. Being distrusting and frightened, he leaves their presence and ends up running into Angharad and being somewhat insensitive towards her Welsh-ness:
Too bad that they're soon interrupted by Garrett Langston who's got Jacob in his sights. Dorian grabs a bread knife from the kitchen and proceeds to do nothing with it while the two of them have their extended brawl. For what it's worth, Dorian's handler actually acknowledges that his character is being somewhat useless right now. He's got these ideas about putting together the materials to ride a glider off of the island, but aside from showing some proficiency at cleaning and handling Jacob's gun, he's not really pulling his weight in this alliance. Nonetheless, once Garrett's done for, the two of them depart for the warehouse to pick up supplies, little realizing that they're being followed by Angharad. Oddly, when she pretends to be wounded, Dorian doesn't recognize her as the lady who chased him. Was that intentional of the handler or did they just forget that scene had happened?
Regardless, in the ensuing confusion with Amanda and Cody and so forth, MismatchedEyes gets sort of shunted to the side, so they explain it as Dorian passing out from the proceedings, all the stress being too much for him. By the time he's woken up, the announcement has sounded and it's time for everyone to leave.
In the next thread, he's running running running, in fact he's running for three whole posts before he finally meets up with the group in the thread. He barely has time to cough out an explanation before it's VINCE WITH A SMOKE GRENADE! Dorian takes a round in the shoulder and tries to rally everyone to the sound of his voice, which...you know, the advantage of being in smoke is that you aren't an obvious target, but whatever. The point is that the group gets the upper side on Vince and Dorian suggests just wounding him, because he doesn't want anyone to die today. I guess he didn't realize that a shot to the foot would launch Vince like he was flung from a catapult and deposit him on a strangely pointy rock. Then the group flees from Jason, leaving Dorian to accomplish nothing again and also feel bitterness for being abandoned. Is it time for some pent-up nerd rage?!
Well, no, he's feeling pathetic again almost immediately. Coming across a sleeping girl, he screams at her to go away and so she does, leaving him to wait in the Lighthouse for an ambush that'll never come. Well, not immediately. It doesn't help that his approach to every conflict is to shriek that he has a gun. And wouldn't you know it, someone calls his bluff and starts breaking into his fortifications. Deciding that he'll take his attackers out in an over-the-top way, Dorian causes a gas leak that results in a giant explosion, and he's forced to escape by climbing to the top and descending down the side of the lighthouse with a rope. The only problem is that nobody followed him inside, so all he did was cause some meaningless property damage. At this point, Dorian drops from MismatchedEyes to Lien, and subsequently, he starts to reflect on how little he's accomplished thus far, which I have to agree with. I mean really, he just blew up a building with absolutely nobody in it. Even when he does something cool, it ends up being pointless.
Oh also, MismatchedEyes did Peri Barclay, which went to a different handler, so now the two of them are in a thread together, and Peri's being suddenly chummy and wanting to welcome in Dorian as an ally? Really? Peri is doing that? Not to dictate how someone's interpretation of Peri should go, but I know Peri. I've seen enough of him with Angharad to know how he treats seemingly weak people. If this was the Peri I know, Dorian would be put through some sadistic test right about now. But maybe it's because Peri and Dorian are actually in love with one another which...sure, I guess that's a thing? No real reason for it and it doesn't suit Peri's character at all, but yeah, let's have Peri fall head over heels for Dorian to the point of Dorian jerking him off before bequeathing him his uzi and departing. I want to emphasize that. A ruthless and sadistic killer who's been putting people through the wringer for petty reasons just got smitten with a random pathetic nerd, had a blowjob with him, and handed over his best weapon. I really have to ponder how MismatchedEyes took this interpretation of their characters.
Of course, Dorian just has to go out on a low note because that's the only note he knows, so he gets shot up by Angelina Kaige and dies immediately afterwards. Funny how a character who went as far as he did managed to leave almost no impression everywhere he went. He alienated a lot of people with his panicked nature, made an alliance that ditched him immediately, caused a giant explosion that had no real affect on the game, and in summary, his only true contribution was giving Peri Barclay a BJ in a dirty bathroom stall. Would I recommend reading him? Probably not. It's really boring, and his interaction with Peri isn't worth the dull ride. There are bad characters who are a good read because of how terrible they are, and there are good characters who are just a good read in general, and there are folks like Dorian who lie somewhere in the middle, just drifting along through the game and being generally unimportant. They're there for all that's worth, but that's all you can say about them. Dorian existed, and I guess he and Peri hit it off. That's it.
Can I go again?
Dorian Greywood is a book nerd, and his handler would really like for you to know that, what with him being a BOOKworm who prizes his BOOKS above anything else and how he's really distraught that the bullies who picked on him mistreated his BOOKS and that caused him great distress whenever his BOOKS got torn or roughed up or burned or...Wait what? Folks were burning books in his school? That's pretty hardcore, not gonna lie.
Why's he coming from Sunnyside High in Florida instead of Barry Coleson anyway? Did the terrorists find him headfirst in a toilet and decide they might as well since they had some room in the back? Mysteries upon mysteries.
Suitable to his awkward geekiness, his first encounter on the island is downright embarrassing, since he succeeds in losing both his bag and his glasses and falling onto his derriere. He has a reason to be afraid, since all they gave him is razor blades in a version where characters seem to be drawing guns left and right. Being distrusting and frightened, he leaves their presence and ends up running into Angharad and being somewhat insensitive towards her Welsh-ness:
Unsurprisingly, she takes this as an incentive to go at him with her weapon, and he flees into the next scene, where he runs into Jacob Starr, master of teleportation. Why do I call him that? Because the very first thing he does is come up to Dorian and press his gun against the guy's temple. Fortunately, Jacob has a deal to make with Dorian, since he can tell he's a smart guy somehow: find an escape plan and he won't give Dorian's skull a new ventilation shaft. It's actually an okay thread, since Dorian and Jacob discuss with one another what their options actually are. It's rare to see this kind of thing in V1, and Dorian seems like he's playing it smart and not saying anything that might set Jacob off. This continues into the next thread where Jacob barricades his fortress while Dorian tries to figure out a way to determine which island they're on.He just brought hish ands up and said "Shoo! Go away" a couple of times..What use was a ally he couldnt communicate with?
Too bad that they're soon interrupted by Garrett Langston who's got Jacob in his sights. Dorian grabs a bread knife from the kitchen and proceeds to do nothing with it while the two of them have their extended brawl. For what it's worth, Dorian's handler actually acknowledges that his character is being somewhat useless right now. He's got these ideas about putting together the materials to ride a glider off of the island, but aside from showing some proficiency at cleaning and handling Jacob's gun, he's not really pulling his weight in this alliance. Nonetheless, once Garrett's done for, the two of them depart for the warehouse to pick up supplies, little realizing that they're being followed by Angharad. Oddly, when she pretends to be wounded, Dorian doesn't recognize her as the lady who chased him. Was that intentional of the handler or did they just forget that scene had happened?
Regardless, in the ensuing confusion with Amanda and Cody and so forth, MismatchedEyes gets sort of shunted to the side, so they explain it as Dorian passing out from the proceedings, all the stress being too much for him. By the time he's woken up, the announcement has sounded and it's time for everyone to leave.
I love a good analogy.He would run till his balls pumped battery acid and his head hurt like a metaller at a metallica marathon.
In the next thread, he's running running running, in fact he's running for three whole posts before he finally meets up with the group in the thread. He barely has time to cough out an explanation before it's VINCE WITH A SMOKE GRENADE! Dorian takes a round in the shoulder and tries to rally everyone to the sound of his voice, which...you know, the advantage of being in smoke is that you aren't an obvious target, but whatever. The point is that the group gets the upper side on Vince and Dorian suggests just wounding him, because he doesn't want anyone to die today. I guess he didn't realize that a shot to the foot would launch Vince like he was flung from a catapult and deposit him on a strangely pointy rock. Then the group flees from Jason, leaving Dorian to accomplish nothing again and also feel bitterness for being abandoned. Is it time for some pent-up nerd rage?!
Well, no, he's feeling pathetic again almost immediately. Coming across a sleeping girl, he screams at her to go away and so she does, leaving him to wait in the Lighthouse for an ambush that'll never come. Well, not immediately. It doesn't help that his approach to every conflict is to shriek that he has a gun. And wouldn't you know it, someone calls his bluff and starts breaking into his fortifications. Deciding that he'll take his attackers out in an over-the-top way, Dorian causes a gas leak that results in a giant explosion, and he's forced to escape by climbing to the top and descending down the side of the lighthouse with a rope. The only problem is that nobody followed him inside, so all he did was cause some meaningless property damage. At this point, Dorian drops from MismatchedEyes to Lien, and subsequently, he starts to reflect on how little he's accomplished thus far, which I have to agree with. I mean really, he just blew up a building with absolutely nobody in it. Even when he does something cool, it ends up being pointless.
Oh also, MismatchedEyes did Peri Barclay, which went to a different handler, so now the two of them are in a thread together, and Peri's being suddenly chummy and wanting to welcome in Dorian as an ally? Really? Peri is doing that? Not to dictate how someone's interpretation of Peri should go, but I know Peri. I've seen enough of him with Angharad to know how he treats seemingly weak people. If this was the Peri I know, Dorian would be put through some sadistic test right about now. But maybe it's because Peri and Dorian are actually in love with one another which...sure, I guess that's a thing? No real reason for it and it doesn't suit Peri's character at all, but yeah, let's have Peri fall head over heels for Dorian to the point of Dorian jerking him off before bequeathing him his uzi and departing. I want to emphasize that. A ruthless and sadistic killer who's been putting people through the wringer for petty reasons just got smitten with a random pathetic nerd, had a blowjob with him, and handed over his best weapon. I really have to ponder how MismatchedEyes took this interpretation of their characters.
Of course, Dorian just has to go out on a low note because that's the only note he knows, so he gets shot up by Angelina Kaige and dies immediately afterwards. Funny how a character who went as far as he did managed to leave almost no impression everywhere he went. He alienated a lot of people with his panicked nature, made an alliance that ditched him immediately, caused a giant explosion that had no real affect on the game, and in summary, his only true contribution was giving Peri Barclay a BJ in a dirty bathroom stall. Would I recommend reading him? Probably not. It's really boring, and his interaction with Peri isn't worth the dull ride. There are bad characters who are a good read because of how terrible they are, and there are good characters who are just a good read in general, and there are folks like Dorian who lie somewhere in the middle, just drifting along through the game and being generally unimportant. They're there for all that's worth, but that's all you can say about them. Dorian existed, and I guess he and Peri hit it off. That's it.
Can I go again?
(Original post by MK Kilmarnock)
Xian Chun:
Xian Chun:
Spoiler!
(Original post by Blastinus)
Before we go too far into Selene Acton's story, let's touch on a few points in her profile. First, she's described primarily in terms of her sex appeal. To whit:
First thread, she's observing the manic antics of Sydney Morvran with "shrink-wrapped eyes" before deciding to step in and participate in the action. Too bad he chucks a flashbang, rendering her unable to see and forcing her to flee the scene. Next thread she's in the lighthouse when Garrett Langston arrives, and she tells him that he can come in, but only if he removes the bolts from his crossbow. This suggests a deal of strategy, which goes out the window when Jacob Starr and Uriel arrive and she's just hiding behind a bed. She continues to hide behind the bed for the rest of the scene, since her handler doesn't post again, resulting in her being danger zone'd.
Well, okay then.
To summarize, she gets three lines in this entire game, two of which are her just musing to herself. She's a passive observer to everything and dies from inactivity. I can't even form an opinion of her because she has absolutely nothing to go on. Bleh.
Another!
Before we go too far into Selene Acton's story, let's touch on a few points in her profile. First, she's described primarily in terms of her sex appeal. To whit:
Also, she's apparently been involved in petty crimes that have gotten her suspended from school at age 15, like graffiti and arson. You know, kid stuff. What we may be looking at is a premade player of sorts, only the female variety where she's going to be a femme fatale. Let's see how that translates to her island experience.Sexually alluring, wide hipped, with a petite bosom and a devious smile. Short hair down to her neck, red/brown and very 'bouncy'. 5' 5 and thin, with small rimmed glasses.
First thread, she's observing the manic antics of Sydney Morvran with "shrink-wrapped eyes" before deciding to step in and participate in the action. Too bad he chucks a flashbang, rendering her unable to see and forcing her to flee the scene. Next thread she's in the lighthouse when Garrett Langston arrives, and she tells him that he can come in, but only if he removes the bolts from his crossbow. This suggests a deal of strategy, which goes out the window when Jacob Starr and Uriel arrive and she's just hiding behind a bed. She continues to hide behind the bed for the rest of the scene, since her handler doesn't post again, resulting in her being danger zone'd.
Well, okay then.
To summarize, she gets three lines in this entire game, two of which are her just musing to herself. She's a passive observer to everything and dies from inactivity. I can't even form an opinion of her because she has absolutely nothing to go on. Bleh.
Another!
(Original post by Blastinus)
Jamie Amy Robins is hardly worth mentioning, because she's another inactive kill that Adam Dodd harvests without her handler even getting a post, and I'm beginning to notice a pattern here. Much like Cody Jenson just randomly bumped off people who put up a token fight, Adam Dodd's method is to have the character attack him for whatever reason and then kill them in retaliation so he can still claim to be a hero. It's really disquieting to see the greater narrative emerging because when it comes right down to it, Dodd is just as bad as Cody for killing random people. It's just framed so that Dodd can claim that he's acting in self-defense.
I suppose I should go into Jamie's background a little. She's a Christian who lost her mother on Christmas and is overall a pretty kind girl who's boring and unassuming. Naturally, this is the kind of girl who would reflexively try to kill someone and then apologize for it afterwards. Sure...And her character has a blowgun with tranq darts, but Dodd just shrugs off two of them with only a token mention of being groggy that goes away in the next immediate scene, so way to sell the self-defense angle, you git.
Let's keep going!
Jamie Amy Robins is hardly worth mentioning, because she's another inactive kill that Adam Dodd harvests without her handler even getting a post, and I'm beginning to notice a pattern here. Much like Cody Jenson just randomly bumped off people who put up a token fight, Adam Dodd's method is to have the character attack him for whatever reason and then kill them in retaliation so he can still claim to be a hero. It's really disquieting to see the greater narrative emerging because when it comes right down to it, Dodd is just as bad as Cody for killing random people. It's just framed so that Dodd can claim that he's acting in self-defense.
I suppose I should go into Jamie's background a little. She's a Christian who lost her mother on Christmas and is overall a pretty kind girl who's boring and unassuming. Naturally, this is the kind of girl who would reflexively try to kill someone and then apologize for it afterwards. Sure...And her character has a blowgun with tranq darts, but Dodd just shrugs off two of them with only a token mention of being groggy that goes away in the next immediate scene, so way to sell the self-defense angle, you git.
Let's keep going!
(original post by Blastinus)
Luca Donovan is a rich snob archetype who seemingly went inactive without being posted with at all, leading to her becoming an easy kill for Megami's character, Jill Gatling. For what it's worth, Megami extended it out to a fight lasting three posts, but otherwise, there's really nothing to see here. And Jill Gatling would become part of Angelina Kaige's warehouse massacre just a few pages later, so really, it's all a moot point.
I just really like that name though. Jill Gatling. It's the kind of silliness that really makes V1 fun most of the time.
Alright, let's do another.
Luca Donovan is a rich snob archetype who seemingly went inactive without being posted with at all, leading to her becoming an easy kill for Megami's character, Jill Gatling. For what it's worth, Megami extended it out to a fight lasting three posts, but otherwise, there's really nothing to see here. And Jill Gatling would become part of Angelina Kaige's warehouse massacre just a few pages later, so really, it's all a moot point.
I just really like that name though. Jill Gatling. It's the kind of silliness that really makes V1 fun most of the time.
Alright, let's do another.
(Original post by Blastinus)
Lucinda Garnett is a little unusual in terms of characteristics because she starts her game in a oneshot deathpost. Not dying, mind you, but being the one who kills a guy. I think the clue is in the date that she starts, which is three months from the time when Adam Dodd starts culling inactive characters. Based on that, what we can assume is that Lucinda was written in order to add more characters to the island which was rapidly being depopulated. Fortunately, there's another character just nearby called Hannah Juett who she can do the belated starting character talking points with, and as the two of them reflect on that guy who's dead in front of them, they agree to form an alliance, just in time to run into Adam Dodd, who's songposting to himself. And sure enough, she starts joining in the songposting, and my eyes just glaze over immediately.
I'll put it right out there, I can't stand posts that throw in song lyrics to make you identify with the character's feelings. Writing is a visual medium, not an auditory one, and therefore the mood should be set with clever descriptions, actions, and details. The more I have to skim over meaningless filler, the less invested I am with the story. Fortunately, once the introductions are over with, so are the songs, and Lucinda and Adam can reflect on the horrible nature of the game in peace. To Dodd's credit, he's beginning to ask himself if what he's doing is right. This is before he starts shooting people in the head for swinging bags of sawdust at him, but at least the question is there. Lucinda responds as a comforter, but in a really long-winded fashion that's kinda hard to read. To whit:
Next thread, she's all alone and she just rests and then re-gathers her gear, so let's move on. The next thread adds more than enough details to make up for it. Enough details, in fact, for one post to fill an entire page. If indeed it is true that brevity is the soul of wit, then this delivery is dead on arrival. By the time she's finished thinking about what's going on, taking in the scenery, and all that, I don't even have the ability to process that something important is happening in this post. She discovers the body of a boy named Ryan, one who she'd been looking for all game, and this makes her distraught and determined to win the game at all costs. There's also a conversation with Cody Jenson and Adam Dodd happening nearby, which she spectates but doesn't do anything about until the thread ends. Good stuff.
Her appearance might be hard to find at the warehouse massacre thread, since riseruga never mentioned her arriving in the usual format and she disappears in the same post. Having apparently settled on the murder plan, she's got knives from her first kill and she's ready to start stabbing. Not very successfully, as her attempt to kill another of riseruga's characters gets part of her face blown off, and she delivers a non-fatal throat cut and a non-fatal stab to the back, non-fatal enough for this guy to survive several more pages, in fact. Her transformation from survivor to player doesn't quite work for me, and I can't sympathize with her next thread where she's sobbing over the fact that she got her face shot trying to kill someone. I mean, I get that it hurts, but it's like lamenting the fact that you cut your knuckles punching someone in the face. She meets up with a couple people in a conversation slightly dripping with menace, and nothing happens.
But don't worry, that's just because Lucinda's handler was saving the real excitement for what's coming up next. It starts out normally enough. She enters a house, has a tense standoff with Steven Hyde, and then is interrupted by the arrival of Jeremy Torres. After she casually fires off a shot into his shoulder, Lucinda and Jeremy do what comes naturally in this sort of situation: jump into a couple of nearby parked cars (that nobody noticed before apparently) and have a giant car chase.
Yes, a car chase. Steven is so unprepared for the awesomeness to come that he's standing gormlessly outside and gets promptly steamrolled, Mad Max style. Naturally, neither participant spares any expense in making this sequence (sprawling over several threads) into the most ridiculous display ever. We're talking spontaneous seat adjustments to dodge shotgun blasts, turning donuts, blaring the radio at each other, crashes, mid-chase banter, and a giant flaming wreck at the end. Unable to escape her burning car, and trapped inside a danger zone, Lucinda's neck goes kablooey shortly before Jeremy's, putting them both in the top ten. And to be honest, that death was so much better than Cody's, it's hard to express it. THAT'S what a dramatic denouement looks like. It doesn't even matter that she had a really wordy and kind of "eh" beginning. Everything that happened in that chase made Lucinda one of my absolute favorite characters to read in V1, well deserving of her spot.
I'll take another, please.
Lucinda Garnett is a little unusual in terms of characteristics because she starts her game in a oneshot deathpost. Not dying, mind you, but being the one who kills a guy. I think the clue is in the date that she starts, which is three months from the time when Adam Dodd starts culling inactive characters. Based on that, what we can assume is that Lucinda was written in order to add more characters to the island which was rapidly being depopulated. Fortunately, there's another character just nearby called Hannah Juett who she can do the belated starting character talking points with, and as the two of them reflect on that guy who's dead in front of them, they agree to form an alliance, just in time to run into Adam Dodd, who's songposting to himself. And sure enough, she starts joining in the songposting, and my eyes just glaze over immediately.
I'll put it right out there, I can't stand posts that throw in song lyrics to make you identify with the character's feelings. Writing is a visual medium, not an auditory one, and therefore the mood should be set with clever descriptions, actions, and details. The more I have to skim over meaningless filler, the less invested I am with the story. Fortunately, once the introductions are over with, so are the songs, and Lucinda and Adam can reflect on the horrible nature of the game in peace. To Dodd's credit, he's beginning to ask himself if what he's doing is right. This is before he starts shooting people in the head for swinging bags of sawdust at him, but at least the question is there. Lucinda responds as a comforter, but in a really long-winded fashion that's kinda hard to read. To whit:
I think I'm going to be sick. I mean, I LIKE positive characters who try to be inspirational, and even I'm bothered by how sugary that is.Smiling brightly for the first time since she had arrived on this place, Lucinda reached up placing a hand on Adam's shoulder in a comforting manner. "Let me tell you something though, Mama used to always tell me when I was little that I have nothing to fear in life because not only was I protected here, my loved ones that had passed on before me where always around to protect me from harm's way as well. Adam I believe this is true in all of us, if you continue to trust and love your friends even though they're gone, they'll protect you...
You're friends loved you in life, they love you now too I bet. And because they're your friends, they probably understand better than anyone what's going through your head. Though they've passed on, truly though they continue to live on." At this point, her hand dropped, she using a finger to lightly poke at an area of his chest right over his heart. "They continue to live on right there, in meeting those people alone you took a part of them into yourself. Becoming friends made that even stronger, and that little piece of them will always be there.
Be it their laughter, their sorrow, their anger, their love or everything in between, it's all right in your heart now. And unless you let them die in there, they're really not dead at all...
Next thread, she's all alone and she just rests and then re-gathers her gear, so let's move on. The next thread adds more than enough details to make up for it. Enough details, in fact, for one post to fill an entire page. If indeed it is true that brevity is the soul of wit, then this delivery is dead on arrival. By the time she's finished thinking about what's going on, taking in the scenery, and all that, I don't even have the ability to process that something important is happening in this post. She discovers the body of a boy named Ryan, one who she'd been looking for all game, and this makes her distraught and determined to win the game at all costs. There's also a conversation with Cody Jenson and Adam Dodd happening nearby, which she spectates but doesn't do anything about until the thread ends. Good stuff.
Her appearance might be hard to find at the warehouse massacre thread, since riseruga never mentioned her arriving in the usual format and she disappears in the same post. Having apparently settled on the murder plan, she's got knives from her first kill and she's ready to start stabbing. Not very successfully, as her attempt to kill another of riseruga's characters gets part of her face blown off, and she delivers a non-fatal throat cut and a non-fatal stab to the back, non-fatal enough for this guy to survive several more pages, in fact. Her transformation from survivor to player doesn't quite work for me, and I can't sympathize with her next thread where she's sobbing over the fact that she got her face shot trying to kill someone. I mean, I get that it hurts, but it's like lamenting the fact that you cut your knuckles punching someone in the face. She meets up with a couple people in a conversation slightly dripping with menace, and nothing happens.
But don't worry, that's just because Lucinda's handler was saving the real excitement for what's coming up next. It starts out normally enough. She enters a house, has a tense standoff with Steven Hyde, and then is interrupted by the arrival of Jeremy Torres. After she casually fires off a shot into his shoulder, Lucinda and Jeremy do what comes naturally in this sort of situation: jump into a couple of nearby parked cars (that nobody noticed before apparently) and have a giant car chase.
Yes, a car chase. Steven is so unprepared for the awesomeness to come that he's standing gormlessly outside and gets promptly steamrolled, Mad Max style. Naturally, neither participant spares any expense in making this sequence (sprawling over several threads) into the most ridiculous display ever. We're talking spontaneous seat adjustments to dodge shotgun blasts, turning donuts, blaring the radio at each other, crashes, mid-chase banter, and a giant flaming wreck at the end. Unable to escape her burning car, and trapped inside a danger zone, Lucinda's neck goes kablooey shortly before Jeremy's, putting them both in the top ten. And to be honest, that death was so much better than Cody's, it's hard to express it. THAT'S what a dramatic denouement looks like. It doesn't even matter that she had a really wordy and kind of "eh" beginning. Everything that happened in that chase made Lucinda one of my absolute favorite characters to read in V1, well deserving of her spot.
I'll take another, please.
(Adopted from Dannyrulx)
(Original post by Blastinus)
Johnny "Mordread" Lamika is the Josh Goodman of V1, in that he's a clever child killer in his backstory who somehow escapes detection despite seemingly having the intelligence of cement once you see him in action. I don't even want to go into his backstory too much, other than to say that his first kill was at AGE FREAKIN' SEVEN! Or maybe earlier, because that's the first age mentioned. Riiiight.
I guess I can see the inspiration, because he apparently thinks he's a "shingami". And no, I'm not misspelling that.
Unfortunately for those reading, his weapon of choice was a set of fishhooks, which he immediately puts to use against Callum Hadley, who you might know as the guy with the imaginary friends. Mordread approaches him with the same stupid "kitty" monologue, in a manner that suggests that we're supposed to take this character seriously.
Then he gets inactive killed by Adam Dodd, and good riddance. But not before Dodd gets almost violated once again. Dodd, if you're reading this, I would really love an explanation for why you liked to write people sexually assaulting your character. It's really odd how often it keeps coming up. It's not like Mordread was such a compelling and lovable character that you needed to add more villainy to him. I think we would have just given you a pass.
Whatever the case, I could really use a palate cleanser after that hot garbage, so please, keep them coming!
Johnny "Mordread" Lamika is the Josh Goodman of V1, in that he's a clever child killer in his backstory who somehow escapes detection despite seemingly having the intelligence of cement once you see him in action. I don't even want to go into his backstory too much, other than to say that his first kill was at AGE FREAKIN' SEVEN! Or maybe earlier, because that's the first age mentioned. Riiiight.
I guess I can see the inspiration, because he apparently thinks he's a "shingami". And no, I'm not misspelling that.
Nerrrrrrd!~Pretty little kittens...all waiting for Shingami to show them to the afterlife~
(OOC: Shingami=God of Death)
Unfortunately for those reading, his weapon of choice was a set of fishhooks, which he immediately puts to use against Callum Hadley, who you might know as the guy with the imaginary friends. Mordread approaches him with the same stupid "kitty" monologue, in a manner that suggests that we're supposed to take this character seriously.
That's the entire post, by the way. He throws his fishhooks at Callum, somehow catching him in the eyes, and Callum asks why he's doing this, to which he responds, you guessed it, by saying he's "the Shingami, kitten." Cripes, this guy is a broken record. Every post from him is kitty this, kitty that, and it's really friggin' annoying. Also, he rips out Callum's tongue, I guess, but frankly, I'm two threads in, and I'm already beyond caring about this character.Dread silently emerged from his hiding place and approached the figure crouched on the ground, fishhooks hidden in the palm of his hand he silently moved, almost seeming to float across the ground.
Then he gets inactive killed by Adam Dodd, and good riddance. But not before Dodd gets almost violated once again. Dodd, if you're reading this, I would really love an explanation for why you liked to write people sexually assaulting your character. It's really odd how often it keeps coming up. It's not like Mordread was such a compelling and lovable character that you needed to add more villainy to him. I think we would have just given you a pass.
Whatever the case, I could really use a palate cleanser after that hot garbage, so please, keep them coming!
(Original post by Blastinus)
Ryan Ashmore's entire bio can be summed up as "He wants to be a doctor". Every single aspect of his appearance, backstory, and personality drills right down to the heart of the matter, and as a result, one would think that what he brings to the table will be some crucial life-saving medical knowledge. A useful skill to have in V1 especially, when people are constantly taking hits when they don't have to. Let's see how that plays out, shall we?
First thread, he flashes back to right before the trip, and it's clear that the guy wants to gain more experiences from life, despite the protestations of his family. I suppose it's intending to be ironic, since the one time he gets to go on a trip is also looking very likely to be his last. The rest of it is a oneshot that establishes the typical SOTF ritual. Check bag, muse about your situation, get scared and panicky, run off to find people to interact with.
Of course, when his initial encounter is with an uzi-wielding Slayer character, it's probably for the best that he chooses to hide in a closet and then make a break for it, all in one post, of course. Doesn't even give Slayer a chance to contrive a reason for why he knew that Ryan was hiding in the closet. All for the better, since that would have just resulted in a million bullets being flung in the closet's direction and Megami having to somehow write a way around that.
Fortunately, in the club of scared kids running for their lives, Ryan has found a soulmate at this point, as Cassie Webber and he bond together over the fact that everything's crazy and nothing makes sense any more. Oddly, rather than taking the moral high ground and saying that playing is wrong, the two of them decide that they're going to have to defend themselves, which might mean killing people. It's a surprisingly mature direction to go in, but it's too bad that he's not going to get much opportunity to put that thought into action, since the next encounter is with an already-wounded Angharad Davies, who puts up such a token fight that he can have a crisis of faith when she's not five feet away. Speaking as a Christian myself, I've often pondered how a proper one would act if thrust into this kind of situation. It seems to me like a lot of characters written to have faith either just have it so they can lose it dramatically (as Ryan is doing here) or exaggerate it to such a degree that it becomes nonsensical. Rachel Gettys from V4 and Uriel Hunter fit into the latter category. I dunno, maybe there are examples of Christian characters who were kind and courageous and the like, but I've never seen any.
Regardless, Ryan and Cassie decide to vacate so Angharad can get her death scene on, and find themselves caught in the middle of Cody Jenson doing his best King Kong impersonation with Lyndi. Disoriented by the flashbang, Ryan loses track of Cassie and instead catches sight of Lyndi, deciding that he's going to free her from Cody. Or at least, that's how the plan starts, but he regrettably leads her right into Cody's booby-trapped lair which he totally set up at some point and then...well, maybe I'll just quote this:
You notice a distinct lack of any medical-related stuff in that whole mishmash of ideas? Yeah, you might have forgotten that his medical aspirations were even a thing, since they sure as heck never came up. I find myself simultaneously pondering what could have been and lamenting what was, and while Ryan was well-written and had some good ideas in the mix, I can't ultimately recommend him, because nothing that was ever written about him ever bore fruit. Truly a tragedy.
How many are left at this point? I feel like we've got to be close to the end.
Ryan Ashmore's entire bio can be summed up as "He wants to be a doctor". Every single aspect of his appearance, backstory, and personality drills right down to the heart of the matter, and as a result, one would think that what he brings to the table will be some crucial life-saving medical knowledge. A useful skill to have in V1 especially, when people are constantly taking hits when they don't have to. Let's see how that plays out, shall we?
First thread, he flashes back to right before the trip, and it's clear that the guy wants to gain more experiences from life, despite the protestations of his family. I suppose it's intending to be ironic, since the one time he gets to go on a trip is also looking very likely to be his last. The rest of it is a oneshot that establishes the typical SOTF ritual. Check bag, muse about your situation, get scared and panicky, run off to find people to interact with.
Of course, when his initial encounter is with an uzi-wielding Slayer character, it's probably for the best that he chooses to hide in a closet and then make a break for it, all in one post, of course. Doesn't even give Slayer a chance to contrive a reason for why he knew that Ryan was hiding in the closet. All for the better, since that would have just resulted in a million bullets being flung in the closet's direction and Megami having to somehow write a way around that.
Fortunately, in the club of scared kids running for their lives, Ryan has found a soulmate at this point, as Cassie Webber and he bond together over the fact that everything's crazy and nothing makes sense any more. Oddly, rather than taking the moral high ground and saying that playing is wrong, the two of them decide that they're going to have to defend themselves, which might mean killing people. It's a surprisingly mature direction to go in, but it's too bad that he's not going to get much opportunity to put that thought into action, since the next encounter is with an already-wounded Angharad Davies, who puts up such a token fight that he can have a crisis of faith when she's not five feet away. Speaking as a Christian myself, I've often pondered how a proper one would act if thrust into this kind of situation. It seems to me like a lot of characters written to have faith either just have it so they can lose it dramatically (as Ryan is doing here) or exaggerate it to such a degree that it becomes nonsensical. Rachel Gettys from V4 and Uriel Hunter fit into the latter category. I dunno, maybe there are examples of Christian characters who were kind and courageous and the like, but I've never seen any.
Regardless, Ryan and Cassie decide to vacate so Angharad can get her death scene on, and find themselves caught in the middle of Cody Jenson doing his best King Kong impersonation with Lyndi. Disoriented by the flashbang, Ryan loses track of Cassie and instead catches sight of Lyndi, deciding that he's going to free her from Cody. Or at least, that's how the plan starts, but he regrettably leads her right into Cody's booby-trapped lair which he totally set up at some point and then...well, maybe I'll just quote this:
Yeah. Because he gets wounded, Ryan suddenly turns a 180 and decides that he's going to save everyone by killing them. Guess there was always room for Christian Type B after all. In the ensuing struggle, they do the classic knife thing where it gets lodged in Ryan as they're fighting over it, and that's basically all she wrote."The way to defeat the program," he said in a near whisper, "The way to save all of us from it, to liberate ourselves from this prison... it's right here. Don't you see it, Lyndi? It's been right here, all along. I'm going to save you. I'm going to save Cassie and Drew. All of us. I'm going to take us far, far away from this place. I'm going to defeat Danya and this whole god damned system. It's been right here all along. And Lyndi, you'll be the first. You'll be the first person I send to their salvation!"
The last few words of Ryan's speech turned from a quiet utterance into a loud yell as he lunged toward the girl he had been trying to protect only moments ago, knife in hand.
You notice a distinct lack of any medical-related stuff in that whole mishmash of ideas? Yeah, you might have forgotten that his medical aspirations were even a thing, since they sure as heck never came up. I find myself simultaneously pondering what could have been and lamenting what was, and while Ryan was well-written and had some good ideas in the mix, I can't ultimately recommend him, because nothing that was ever written about him ever bore fruit. Truly a tragedy.
How many are left at this point? I feel like we've got to be close to the end.
(original post by Brackie)
Jayne is a beige boring waste of time. Her profile's not terrible, but she has no voice and only hangs around characters as boring and incomprehensible as she is, and then she gets stabbed in the back of the head by her own vodka bottle by one of Slayer's many killbots. I'd do a full write-up summary, but that is time better spent doing something else completely.
Instead I'm going to ask for another character!
Jayne is a beige boring waste of time. Her profile's not terrible, but she has no voice and only hangs around characters as boring and incomprehensible as she is, and then she gets stabbed in the back of the head by her own vodka bottle by one of Slayer's many killbots. I'd do a full write-up summary, but that is time better spent doing something else completely.
Instead I'm going to ask for another character!
(Original post by Blastinus)
Umi Martin's profile would probably ring some alarm bells if she was submitted today, since her primary skills are hunting with rifles, biology, and first aid. Seemingly innocuous hobbies, but oddly specific towards surviving on a murder island. Maybe that wasn't what Lien was going for, but it certainly seems that way. The proof will be in the execution itself.
First thread, she does the Island Starting Post Waltz and leaves, and then I suddenly realize why her name seems familiar. She's the third wheel of the Daisuke and Aiden alliance. Most of what she does was already covered in my Daisuke writeup, so let's cut to the part where she rescues Andrew Lipson from a hole. Here's where she actually gets a bit of time to shine, and I love her anxiety over telling Andrew that they're on the island. The part at the end, where she's almost unable to choke out the true nature of everything, was something I haven't seen too often. It's very rare that characters feel sorry for other characters in this version, and Umi, you can tell, wishes that Andrew was anywhere else but here.
This thread also results in an interesting revelation. Apparently Kichiro Taka, another kid on the island, was actually Umi's brother. This bombshell strikes at the same time as the bolt of lightning that signals Andrew's end, and she just breaks down in tears, crying out angrily at Danya:
It's becoming clearer as the scene progresses that Umi has no trust for Peri either, especially since he's done nothing but cause trouble since showing up. Confronting him with a new handler (Lien passed her off to LadyMakaze), she has the drop on him with her gun but he manages to avoid the shots as he drops to the floor, pretending to be dead. She goes to investigate, letting her guard down, and he springs to life, shooting her twice at close range. Her last action before collapsing is to thank him, since her time on the island had been nothing but torment.
It's hard to say what to think of Umi really. She had her moments to show real emotion and stand out, but her alliance was pretty firmly the Daisuke and Aiden show. She mostly provided side commentary on what was going on and she didn't contribute a great deal to the alliance besides being someone with a gun. I was left with a feeling of lukewarmness, which I guess is better than revulsion at least.
One more please?
Umi Martin's profile would probably ring some alarm bells if she was submitted today, since her primary skills are hunting with rifles, biology, and first aid. Seemingly innocuous hobbies, but oddly specific towards surviving on a murder island. Maybe that wasn't what Lien was going for, but it certainly seems that way. The proof will be in the execution itself.
First thread, she does the Island Starting Post Waltz and leaves, and then I suddenly realize why her name seems familiar. She's the third wheel of the Daisuke and Aiden alliance. Most of what she does was already covered in my Daisuke writeup, so let's cut to the part where she rescues Andrew Lipson from a hole. Here's where she actually gets a bit of time to shine, and I love her anxiety over telling Andrew that they're on the island. The part at the end, where she's almost unable to choke out the true nature of everything, was something I haven't seen too often. It's very rare that characters feel sorry for other characters in this version, and Umi, you can tell, wishes that Andrew was anywhere else but here.
This thread also results in an interesting revelation. Apparently Kichiro Taka, another kid on the island, was actually Umi's brother. This bombshell strikes at the same time as the bolt of lightning that signals Andrew's end, and she just breaks down in tears, crying out angrily at Danya:
We never figure out what Umi meant regarding the cameras, since she's immediately distracted by Chi making a grab for her gun and then turning the Wednesday switch to "Go", so whatever she was planning was lost to the mists of time. Instead, she follows the Daisuke alliance to her last thread, where she threatens Heather and the two of them have a petty insult-off. It's a little embarrassing to read. Then after Heather and Co. leave, Peri Barclay arrives, though you wouldn't know it's Peri because...oh wait, I did this one. Anyway, Umi levels her gun on him, and he responds by somehow drawing his weapons in the blink of an eye. Then the rest of the group arrives and we have that exchange with Kiyoko where she distrusts Peri but only Daisuke can understand her."I am personally going to rip your eyes out so you can watch yourself die! I'm going to use every bone in my body to make you pay for what you've done, and I will--" she cut short.
There was something wrong.
"Hey... guys? Which one of you knows about cameras?"
It's becoming clearer as the scene progresses that Umi has no trust for Peri either, especially since he's done nothing but cause trouble since showing up. Confronting him with a new handler (Lien passed her off to LadyMakaze), she has the drop on him with her gun but he manages to avoid the shots as he drops to the floor, pretending to be dead. She goes to investigate, letting her guard down, and he springs to life, shooting her twice at close range. Her last action before collapsing is to thank him, since her time on the island had been nothing but torment.
It's hard to say what to think of Umi really. She had her moments to show real emotion and stand out, but her alliance was pretty firmly the Daisuke and Aiden show. She mostly provided side commentary on what was going on and she didn't contribute a great deal to the alliance besides being someone with a gun. I was left with a feeling of lukewarmness, which I guess is better than revulsion at least.
One more please?