Messages

1

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 47: Discussion

« on: November 30, 2016, 05:35:16 pm »

Dear Maytag

I realize you've defeated Dark Cell and are only toying with the thin man before your majestic reveal, however please remember he can vaporize you if you get him angry enough.

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 44: Discussion

« on: December 31, 2015, 04:55:54 pm »

I must say, I loved the curve balls that they at least tried some of the "cheats" as they called it. But they missed one. Ceiling is slanted in the direction of the target. You need only put on a floatation device and fill the room with water. Because of the ceiling, you are 100% guaranteed to reach the end.

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 44: Discussion

« on: December 06, 2015, 08:11:59 pm »

I guess the person has to be conscious to pass phase 3. Physically forcing someone through phases 1& 2 would probably cause them to pass out, or maybe even die, because of the shock, and sending somebody in already passed out (ie drugged) would probably defeat the purpose. Anyways these discussions kind of kill the story, imo.

I imagine you never wondered why they didn't have legolas tie the ring to an arrow and shoot it into the volcano

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 44: Discussion

« on: November 25, 2015, 07:37:11 pm »

The only answer I can see it to just simply not care what reality is presented to you...

As the Riddler of Gotham, put it quite succinctly... "A man who loves nothing in the world cannot be bargained with.  He cannot be betrayed.  He is answerable to no one but himself.  He is free."

Simply not caring what imposed reality is presented to you...

Hmm Maytag cares very much because a some outcomes influence her radioshow / life dream.

Also, that level of uncaring, you might not care enough to complete the task. I mean, I don't care for ice cream (lactose intolerant). If faced with a difficult task to win ice cream, I would readily give up.

Now... a giant slide covered in bacon grease... that just says oh, yes!

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 44: Discussion

« on: November 24, 2015, 07:07:56 pm »

ok... maytag, I'm still going to marry you, but we're overlooking the obvious here

Dark Cell is entirely psychological.

Tie yourself to the tip of a battering ram measuring approximately 16m (50ft)

Have thinman and corona hold the ends of the battering ram and run forward.

You will not be distracted by stage three. You will be propelled into stage 4 like it or not. Why prolong the suffering?

I'm trying to imagine how the logistics of that would work.  First of all, how would you get the 50 foot battering ram inside the door?  Let's assume that the walls are not breakable.  In that case, you couldn't possibly manuever such a huge battering ram into that corridor.  And that's not even getting into how people would be able to hold up the weight while walking through the first 2 phases.

a) Yes... someone suggested a battering ram with detachable segments. Good!

b) Cart + ramp.
b1) Build a large ramp outside (and by large, I mean steep, not large)
b2) Grease darkcell by pouring gallons of animal fat down the ramp
b3) Tie yourself to a cart such that there is no way for you to get off or flip the cart over or in anyway prevent your forward momentum
b4) Roll to the end of darkcell. Say hi to level 4 because you're about to get there. And if not, you'll be tied to a cart in level 3 wishing you could get off

c) catapult... well let's cross this off as infeasible

d) Tell Bloody Mary there's fresh meat at the end. I bet she's immune to the fear

e) bow & arrow with rope
e1) place a generous dab of super glue on the end of the arrow
e2) provided you have half decent aim (read better than mine) shoot blindly into darkcell in the hopes the arrow will become glued to whoever or whatever is back there

f) if (e) fails to pull anything out but the rope is firmly attached, a clever inventor could make a wind up pulley and use the rope to pull himself in

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 44: Discussion

« on: November 18, 2015, 07:49:06 pm »

PS: If darkcell foils the batteringram, catapult ftw

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 44: Discussion

« on: November 18, 2015, 07:44:48 pm »

ok... maytag, I'm still going to marry you, but we're overlooking the obvious here

Dark Cell is entirely psychological.

Tie yourself to the tip of a battering ram measuring approximately 16m (50ft)

Have thinman and corona hold the ends of the battering ram and run forward.

You will not be distracted by stage three. You will be propelled into stage 4 like it or not. Why prolong the suffering?

8

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 44: Discussion

« on: September 13, 2015, 10:18:38 am »

Could you all stop calling my bride a sociopath?

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 43: Discussion

« on: July 27, 2015, 06:02:16 pm »

wowza. I've been tuning in every now and then, waiting for the swords to finish beating Bern's foes and there's this genius development they have to make out and end of chapter
But I won't complain if Maytag is back

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 43: Discussion

« on: April 15, 2015, 07:50:31 am »

I have to admit I'm a little disappointed that Bern appears to have to go through basically no character growth so far. She just sort of gets handed magic weapons that will let her win the fight.

I'm reserving total judgement until I see how this plays out, but I think this particular arc has left a lot to be desired so far.

Yes. Deus ex machina to the rescue here. Bern, through no striving/skill/ability of her own, escapes a dire situation. It's David and Goliath except no one warned Goliath that David is carrying a machine gun.

Hopefully Bern gets rid of this guy quickly so we can get back to Maytag (who is using her own abilities, by the way)

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!

« on: February 26, 2015, 08:06:34 am »

Maytag.

Ppl! the world might not even exist! She might get to the end of Dark Cell and find out they're all living in the Matrix and Keannu Reeves is there complete with his fully rounded acting range and Suspiria is just an Agent.

Sorry, but the Bern storyline has trapped itself. Since death is the result of failure, success is pretty much the only option.

Let's move on to solve the riddle of Thin Man and that creepy Marcie person / it.

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Flipside Discussion / Re: The Criticism Thread

« on: February 26, 2015, 07:59:04 am »

I dunno, I spent nearly the entire time in the Colosseum saying "wow Bern is useless", "when did Bern pick up the idiot ball", "oh come on the obvious choice is a... why is this still being discussed 15 pages later?" and more. There's a time for suspense, but what we got wasn't suspense, it was indecision. This entire arc has been "wait for someone to make a decision for Bern while we sit here watching paint dry". That's not compelling to read, it feels like the actual meat of the story could have fit inside half as many pages, maybe less. I normally enjoy your stories Brian, but this last arc has just been slow, dragging on interminably, and unsuspensefuly slogging along.

I've finally made it in! I can chip my two cents in now (not that Canada has pennies any longer).

What you're reading here (and I'm going out on a limb and putting words in your mouth) is not slow or dragging... the problem is it's hard to invest in Bernadette.

Ya, she has the underdog thing going... but she's faced with a choice that is obvious to us but not to the character. We're shouting at the screen "Jump already" but she's kinda peeking over the edge and wondering how far the plunge will be. The fact that the reader sees the choice she must take far in advance makes it seems to take her forever to reach it.

Hamlet had this too. By about the end of Act I, he/we knew he had to kill Claudius. The next 3 acts and all that "To be or not to be" song & dance could be considered slow or could be considered genius. It mostly depends on how well the reader can settle into the character's decision-making process.