Author Topic: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!  (Read 40877 times)

Sorinreed

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #90 on: February 21, 2015, 09:53:06 pm »
have to go with  Bernadette (Colosseum Story arc)

i need to see some action its been a while :P    Too far invested.

ParsecStrider

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #91 on: February 21, 2015, 09:55:02 pm »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

I'm hoping she surprises some killers trying to get her.

FSS

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #92 on: February 21, 2015, 11:51:02 pm »
2. Bernadette

casianh

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #93 on: February 22, 2015, 12:48:54 am »
Although I've already voted, I wanted to add a thought on the whole cliffhanger thing. Cliffhangers work very well in certain formats. For example, in a book, one chapter ending in a cliffhanger that may not be resolved for another couple chapters or in a tv show where the cliffhanger is resolved in the next episode. However, leaving people hanging in a web comic format, when you're covering an entirely different chapter ends up killing the tension built up by the cliffhanger. That's the whole point of the device, after all, to build tension. Were this all already published and one could read through the whole next chapter before then being able to read the next Bern chapter, the tension would still be fresh, but because these are updated one page at a time, you can't actually hold the tension for an entire different chapter.

evrfreez

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #94 on: February 22, 2015, 01:59:00 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

Really. What did you think would happen? You put it on a cliffhanger.

Like many others, I registered JUST to vote this. Honestly, bringing things up to this point and pausing on an intermission.. after dragging I don't know how many pages of jailor chick being a bitch and spiky-hair girl sweating and Bernadette being emo, and we're finally coming to a resolution, and suddenly intermission -.-

Feels a bit like a slap in the face, but not near as much as if we switched over to another story arc.

dekutree64

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #95 on: February 22, 2015, 02:26:00 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

Terrible place for a break in the action. The chapter should have ended back when Bernadette was crying in her cell. That way, when returning to this storyline, there'd be a little buildup to get us back emotionally invested in it. As it is, we'd get back, there'd be fighting, and we'd have to go review this last section to remember why we should care. Really, even having an intermission/chapter break here is bad for the flow. After all that dramatic buildup, it would have been so satisfying to get right on with it.

That said, I do still want to see more Dark Cell. We're just too deep into this fight day to back out. Unless maybe if you want to rearrange the page order for posterity's sake, relocating these past several pages to the start of the next Bernadette chapter. That might actually be the best solution in the long run, preserving the usual cycle between characters, and eliminating this bad chapter end point.

missingLEGACY

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #96 on: February 22, 2015, 09:29:42 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

karnos149

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #97 on: February 22, 2015, 11:45:30 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

Gotta know what happens next.

Kauphy

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #98 on: February 22, 2015, 03:06:34 pm »
1. Maytag (Dark Cell Storyarc)

snowstreak

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #99 on: February 22, 2015, 03:09:07 pm »
Figured Bern would get the most, it is the newest and freshest in our minds, I mean it has been I am guesstimating at least 6 months since we last saw Maytag.

Arien Anwaman

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #100 on: February 22, 2015, 05:03:35 pm »
1. Maytag (Dark Cell Storyarc)

I love May and I want her to beat the cell.

UncleScary

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Vote
« Reply #101 on: February 22, 2015, 05:19:01 pm »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyline)  Really want to see the 3-on-1 fight!

FoodKiller

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #102 on: February 22, 2015, 09:14:29 pm »
2. Bernadette. I was looking forward to that fight scene!

SxL

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #103 on: February 22, 2015, 09:17:11 pm »
Ok, having read what the replies were, I felt I should actually register and weigh in. I've certainly been reading a long time, but I can't tell for sure how long... less than 9 years anyway, more than 5 :p

Purely on the vote, I would be happy with either Bernadette or Maytag.

Why?

B - Well, as people said, it is a cliffhanger, and I do find it engaging. In fact, I want to counter everyone else's pacing issues a bit, because I felt the lots of going back and forth WAS interesting and important. It might have been able to lose the odd panel here and there, but it wouldn't have felt the same if it was all compressed up in a couple pages.

M - feels like it could be interesting character development, plus I've enjoyed various aspects of that arc a lot.

Why not C? Well, Crest has faded in and out as a character for me. There are times where him and S are really interesting, and times where I'm a bit bored or lost on parts of their arcs, only to come back pages later. So I want the other two a lot more.

I realise this was probably an attempt to cast out for reassurance, but, that in part is why I bothered to register (on holiday, no less!) because I think you deserve that. The pacing wanders sometimes, sure, but that happens to most people. I don't actually care as much about the fighting pages, I like dialogue with my action, so I'm not waiting for that one as such. Anyway, I also figured it was to gage interest in things a bit, which is why I reasoned for my not-choices as well.

I hope motivation isn't too much of a problem like some wondered, because I do want to see where its going! It felt like from time to time you've really picked up for a bit and then dropped back, which is probably also normal, but the good times are good! And the bad times don't seem that bad from this side. Looking forward to whatever you choose, and congrats on all the years (15, is it?) you've been working on the story so far!

Oh yeah, and if people leave cliff-hangers at the end of *books* which don't get published for years (Or, if you're George R.R. Martin, possibly higher multiples of numbers) you can leave them at the end of webcomics. :-*

Kaji

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #104 on: February 22, 2015, 09:35:47 pm »
1. Maytag (Dark Cell Storyarc)

Eversist

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #105 on: February 22, 2015, 11:42:08 pm »
People seem to be going with 2., but my vote is

1. Maytag (Dark Cell Storyarc)

Emerelle

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #106 on: February 22, 2015, 11:46:03 pm »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

I like Maytag more but I NEED to know where that goes for Bernadette... and Polly of course. *giggle* (Captcha made registration very hard for me, hope it was worth it!)

XannMagus

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #107 on: February 23, 2015, 03:48:13 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

HornDemonFarm

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #108 on: February 23, 2015, 04:57:52 am »
3. Crest
It bugs me that almost all the important characters are women, not that I have something against them, just... why? ??? This makes it look like 90% of population are women or that women are incredibly stronger in both swordsmanship and magic (that is, the thin man is a magic demigod who could rule the Earth if he wished to, but he is an exception), so I like Crest.

SirKronos

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #109 on: February 23, 2015, 05:13:38 am »
1. Maytag (Dark Cell Storyarc)

While I do want to see Crest again, and am super thrilled with Bernie's part of story, I am really more curious about Maytag's struggle with the Dark Cell and the Thin Man's denizens, such as Lucrecia (I spelled it right did I?).

Also, I want a bit more light to the Thin Man schemes.

Fyrebaugh@gmail.com

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #110 on: February 23, 2015, 05:37:11 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

Lets close this story up before we move to something else!  Plus we just got to the fight scene!

mghands

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #111 on: February 23, 2015, 05:44:38 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

AnonTheMouse

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #112 on: February 23, 2015, 05:52:43 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

I realized that my last post may not have been in the correct format, so allow me to make an actual vote, to be sure it will be counted.

In my opinion, Bernadette's is the only story that still resembles its original form. Brion, you put on a hell of a comic, but stop trying to be M. Night Shyamalan. Some really unnecessary plot twists have put me off from a lot of the comic, and (as might have come across in my original "vote") made me hate Maytag as a character, if not as a person, altogether.

You thought May was a spunky nympho jester with an adorably shy streak out of costume?
Nope! She's an emotionally stunted (possibly aspergers-suffering) master manipulator with such great acting ability that even the guy who's whole thing is seeing people's faults couldn't tell. Or maybe not, because those don't sound like positive traits, so she totally does have feelings even though even she just said she didn't and there was a flashback to show it and everything!

You thought that this was a fantasy story, with swords and sorcery...maybe even monsters?
Too bad! Have some nanobots!

You thought that Suspiria had a tragic backstory and was getting just revenge?
Nope! She's a delusional lunatic, and she didn't even actually manage to kill the person she was out to get revenge on!

Meanwhile, Bernadette has accomplished her goal of finding her father. Her actions were in accordance with her nature to help her father. She's shown that she continues to be an ethical and moral person in the face of adversity...flawed, human, but principled. All the people around her that ought to care still show every sign of caring, and the people we aren't supposed to like are being horrible. No sudden genre shifts (or rather, unaffected by the sudden genre shift), and no one has suddenly had the entire nature, personality, and motivations of their character turned on its head.

In other words...it's the one story arc still untainted. As long as Brion doesn't decide to needlessly complicate things for the sake of fake added "drama", I still hold out for the Bern arc ending as strong as it started. Past shifts in tone have made me leery of Crest's arc, but it's mostly because of what's happened to Suspiria. I wouldn't mind seeing where Crest's story goes, I just don't have as much trust in how it will turn out, when it already seems to be setting up for another shitty plot twist roller coaster. Then there's Maytag... She used to be my favourite character, and now I hate her. One of my closest friends who started reading the same time as I did stopped because of her sudden transformation into, as he put it, "the textbook definition of a psychopath"...and honestly, he wasn't wrong. If Maytag were a real person, everything we know about her would make a strong case Cleckleyan psychopathy. I mean no disrespect for the author, but I would just as soon if the story never returned to her. If she and the nanobots were just written out and made noncanon, like Zeist from the lore of Highlander.

Actually, I take back what I said about no more Shyamalan plot twists. The best thing that could happen to this comic is a Shyamalan plot twist. Let's put them all back in the castle, and just say the last few chapters have been more illusions and drug-induced dreams. Maytag isn't really a psychopath. Suspiria isn't really a delusional, murderous hell-beast. The comic isn't really a super-post-apocalyptic sci-fi story. It was all just a trick. Can we do that?

Yes, I could say all this in the Brion Makes Excuses For Why Your Criticism Is Invalid thread, but I feel like the reasoning behind my vote needs to be understood, beyond just "They must like action", or "They like Bern more". The fact is, Bern's not even my favourite character. Crest is. However, at this point, the whole comic seems to have devolved to where it becomes not a choice of what I'd like most, but what I'd dislike the least.

tl;dr: Don't go back to the other characters until your ready to fix the problems with their arcs.

Azure Priest

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #113 on: February 23, 2015, 06:26:43 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)

Yes. This arc needs finishing before moving on to the others. The cusp of a major fight scene is a HORRIBLE place to suddenly jump to another story arc. Besides, the other arcs need a bit more thinking.

Maytag: Agreeing to work with The Thin Man at all was a bad idea. She knows what happened to Mary, and she knows that is most certainly NOT something Mary wanted. The fact that she was kidnapped into a meeting with The Thin Man in the first place, and was refused the option and ability of leaving would convince anyone that this guy is NOT trustworthy.

Crest: We know Q'talda loves to play mind games, and sacrificed the Conclave to save herself (not to mention she was calling for Suspira's death before Suspira even arrived). We know Suspira is not COMPLETELY delusional because the bullies she retaliated against DID BULLY HER IN FRONT OF CREST, and were planning some more mayhem (thinking Suspira wasn't even around) when Suspira came out of the wall and did... Something to them. Furthermore, the way she is now... THAT was done to her by either Melter, The Thin Man or both, and she sure as heck didn't agree to it because she was unconscious as a result of The Thin Man's thugs back at the Castle/ Inn. Furthermore, the credibility of Suspira's "parents" is still in question. Q'talda has the ability to loose flesh-eating bacteria on you that leaves no evidence behind. Any random man and woman could have been "convinced" to play the role. Since Crest has, most likely, never been to Suspira's home town, there's no way teleporting him "there" would be sufficient, as "there" could be some OTHER town that Q'talda only SAYS is Suspira's home town. Q'talda's story has too many holes in it. PERIOD. At least, Crest meeting with Suspira again would allow him to tell her that Q'talda survived her attempt. In any event, Suspira, powerful as she is, WILL need help fighting The Thin Man.

So while #2 is the best choice right now, I wouldn't mind seeing #3.

Sverre

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #114 on: February 23, 2015, 08:32:17 am »
Hey guys,

What if this whole vote thing is the cliffhanger and we are just going to go back to Bern anyways, after we have all had this little freak out session? Or may it is a test?

Shazam

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #115 on: February 23, 2015, 08:52:05 am »
As an aside, nice seeing how many readers the poll has gotten to post, regardless of the votes :)

Seikojin

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #116 on: February 23, 2015, 09:20:00 am »
3. Crest (Suspiria Storyarc)

I, like many others, want the Colusseum arc done, however it will get done, in a different chapter.  Given the path everything else up to now has taken, I think going to Crest would be fitting for this book.  And I think come print time, it would be better flow to have it go to Crest, Maytag, then back to Bern.

TxExSpeedy

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #117 on: February 23, 2015, 09:21:49 am »
Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc) Let s see some action. Who really cares about Crest. Maytag's the best but there's no action right now.

Alise_Sor

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #118 on: February 23, 2015, 09:37:20 am »
So you could do any of them depending on what you want to do with the series.

You could continue the Bernadette in the Colosseum which would mean you aren't going to cliffhanger us constantly (or we'd hope so or rather not now) which is what a lot of mangas do.

You could go back to Maytag with the Dark Room which would still leave suspense with Bernadette but would also relieve the suspense of Maytag; this, I would consider, would be the most balance between lurching us into suspenseful cliffhangers and satisfying said cliffhangers.

Or you could go back to Crest and Suspiria... This would leave the two (what I consider to be the) largest cliffhangers unsolved and be the most 'evil.' This would be what a lot of other mangas do to drive their readers nuts because they want to know what's going on with the 'main' characters more than a side plot. Even if the side plot is interesting and can join the others, the cliffhangers you've left with the other two, especially Bernadette, are way more alluring and suspenseful to the readers.

So, you'll probably get a lot, if not all the votes for Bernadette, second most I predict being Maytag and lastly would be Crest. The list is based on suspense of the cliffhanger last seen for each character.

EllieNeo

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Re: Intermission 30: Special Voting Thread!
« Reply #119 on: February 23, 2015, 09:50:59 am »
2. Bernadette (Colosseum Storyarc)
can't leave it hanging for that long. that would be torture.

p.s. i, like several others, am one of the long time readers of this comic that just registered in the forum today for the sake of voting.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2015, 10:06:25 am by EllieNeo »