Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.8.

Episode Notes:

• The end of Book One of Worm
• The power of “I can do better than that”
• The mystery of what Taylor will do next
• Can Taylor get Dragon’s number from Armsmaster?
• Envisioning Taylor’s Crew
• Bug-based humanitarianism
• The distancing effect of a small time skip
• Is it time for Taylor to make amends with Danny?
• Arc 8 shows how Wildbow is an excellent Game Master
• Taylor’s meta-textual luck
• The more Coil controls, the better his power gets
• What if a normal person had Coil’s power?
• Re-tracing Coil’s effects on the story so far
• Lisa was taking on so much risk with Taylor, and we’re wondering why
• Rating Lisa on a scale from 1 (Bestie) to 10 (Mastermind) is tough
• Jenny’s head canon for Lisa’s smile destroys Ted
• Friends vs. morals
• Taylor’s comb-over
• This conversation forces Taylor to face reality
• Lisa is really listening to Taylor
• Taylor’s choice feels clearly derived from her character, even if the narrative is opaque
• Ted thinks Endbringer funerals could work like college graduations
• Those who are left off the memorial
• What does Coil know about Skitter?
• The end of Act One of Worm: The Musical
• Taylor, alone and guilty and conflicted
• Voltron capes

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-8/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.7.

Episode Notes:

• This revelation to the Undersiders had to happen, actually
• Why did Tattletale go along with the lie?
• We think better of some of these heroes than Taylor
• Legend is someone who cares about optics
• Turns out Armsmaster is a shameless hypocrite with a lot of reasons to hate Taylor
• Jenny is still rooting for the Amy / Taylor friendship
• The meaning behind the hero and villain labels
• Armsmaster as a foil for Taylor
• There's a reason Miss Militia and Legend believe Tattletale's story -- and a reason the Undersiders believe Tattletale's
• Armsmaster's downfall made this chapter so much more palatable than it would've been
• The arm is a metaphor
• The power of teen sass
• Worm is dark and gritty and still gives us the occasional escapist fantasy
• The potential for a future Undersiders reconciliation
• Hard to see where the story goes from here
• Each cape’s personality matters a lot
• Where are our post-battle pamphlets?
• Jenny still feels like they should be better at this Endbringer thing
• You’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you
• Jenny's dreams of Taylor outing Shadow Stalker
• The challenge of reclaiming straying heroes
• We're glad they see the value in Taylor and the Undersiders
• Jenny distrusts Taylor's Emma theories. Fortunately she has her own
• Taylor is back to her Arc 1 self (she’s been through a lot!)
• The power of friendship (only takes her so far)
• Hero and villain as social roles
• Lisa is the best improv artist
• Choices that are false choices
• Look, everybody should read Worm!

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-7/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.6.

Episode Notes:

• Oops, Taylor and Jenny both forgot about protecting secret identities
• Odds are good that Sophia doesn’t know Taylor is Skitter
• Reviewing what we remember about Sophia’s two identities in light of this knowledge
• If anyone other than Taylor knew that Shadow Stalker had caused Skitter’s trigger event, wouldn’t it be a huge deal?
• Taylor’s reason for not joining the Wards is also a very real and relatable existential horror
• The Protectorate probably have non-threatening reasons to debrief Skitter
• Amy pulls the rug out from under the heroes here
• When you push Taylor’s buttons this hard, this is how she responds
• Unlike Lisa, Amy doesn’t get anything but thrills from these mind games
• Operation Roach Key
• Maybe Taylor’s power is SPECIAL
• What earns you a bigger rating from the PRT?
• We go back to bug school (and monster school)
• Whether Amy qualifies as “decent” or not, she’s sure creepy!
• Amy’s afraid of being bad, which is why she can’t pass up on the ethical hall pass of tormenting Skitter
• Taylor’s genuine apology is dismissed
• The legal landscape around Endbringer fights
• Taylor’s biggest mistake this chapter is main character syndrome
• Is Taylor right to be paranoid, given the specific heroes she’s worried about?
• Taylor alone, again
• Reframing Taylor’s behavior as rational with iffy priors
• Predictions (and other odds and ends)

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-6/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.5.

Episode Notes:

• One of Jenny's least favorite moments of anything ever!
• We're outraged by the medical establishment and also the PRT
• Maybe Taylor should have known better than to, uh, be a villain
• Taylor got here through a tragedy of circumstances
• Maybe she should've just joined the Wards, though
• Panacea predictions
• Scion is so Jesus-coded
• Theories about Taylor's power-up
• Was Leviathan trying to target Coil?
• Unfair that Leviathan's attention is focused on destruction at so many different scales
• The halberd is a beautiful prop
• The triumph of the bug people
• Passing a persuasion check
• The New Wave family saga
• How come Scion can't kill the Endbringers?
• We want an interlude from Scion's human contact
• Does Scion actually hate humans, or what?
• Effective anticlimax
• The best revenge is being better than Mr. Gladly
• Taylor's relationship to preserving her own life
• Taylor's not the main character in other people's lives
• Feelings about Bitch the hero and her connection to Taylor
• The Undersiders might have made it through this fight okay? The dogs definitely didn't though
• We want Armsmaster and Flechette to collaborate
• We were sold on bringing all these random capes to the fight
• Where's the tinker army in this fight?
• Strider's death has some concerning implications
• This arc is really creating a desire for the extermination of the Endbringers
• This story is about capes, but sometimes we have to remember the civilians

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-5/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.4.

Episode Notes:

• We got just as caught up in the drama of Armsmaster vs. Leviathan as Taylor
• Why cars are just the roofs of the street
• Taylor’s clever thinking earns her the front-row seat
• Taylor Hebert’s Bug Recon
• A glimmer of cooperation
• How will a life debt change the Armsmaster and Skitter dynamic going forward?
• If this Armsmaster guy would shut up we might actually like him
• Being bigheaded and being really talented are basically the same thing for Colin
• We think he’d be even better if he worked with a team, or just Tattletale
• Jenny finally gets to know “what the story’s about”
• Parahumans Trinitarianism
• Scion may the be starkest example of the coordination and communication problem the capes are having
• How some of Jenny’s big questions deserve answers beyond “suspend your disbelief”, and how Coil’s power could be one of those answers
• You gotta monologue your big hero moment
• Did Aegis have Endbringer biology?
• Is Leviathan tapped into the armbands? (No, definitely not)
• Was Leviathan actually worried for a second?
• Wildbow’s narrative power move
• Taylor’s doppelganger tech
• Predictions and names

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-4/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.3.

Episode Notes:

• Welp, it sure was a down chapter
• Not to be all Taylor about it but why is this the best the heroes can do?
• What does Taylor think she's going to be able to do?
• "So... we good now, Clockblocker?"
• The action is out of scale with our hero. What does that mean for the narrative going forward?
• Some of the losses are starting to hurt
• Compartmentalization keeps her going
• This battle feels like a waste of powers
• Reluctantly handing it to Armsmaster
• Jenny's new theory connecting the source of powers to the Endbringers
• What's this Leviathan guy thinking?
• Somebody give Faultline the Manton effect override cheatcode already!
• Mourning Shielder and Dauntless and the suffering of children
• Bastion juuuuust missed the "dying a hero" window
• Ruthless Taylor expands her inventory and does medicine
• The heroes should take some cues from Taylor's utilitarianism
• This chapter is a microcosm of Taylor's growth across the first seven arcs
• Some good procedural details
• This was a really well-handled action sequence

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-3/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.x (bonus).

Episode Notes:

• The Tattletale interlude was great but we are counting the chapters until 2 Tattle 2 Tale
• Fic idea: Tiny Tim triggers with his initials-sake’s power
• The headcanon that makes Tattletale Ted’s favorite
• “Dying” in your own chapter is very GRRM
• Stories have plot armor until they demonstrate that they don’t
• It’s very Tattletale to have a whole dang interlude without letting us all the way in
• Being Tattletale is a constant performance
• Who was LiSa and what happened to her that she wishes she could have seen coming?
• Lisa’s power as a LucasArts adventure game narrator or a conversation with an LLM
• Just because she makes it look easy doesn’t mean she’s not working hard
• Living with (and doing bits with) her power
• The Undersiders have become greater than the sum of their parts
• Over-interpreting Bitch’s perceived motivations
• Unpacking “sociopath” and “damage”
• Since I am 23% fucked up, I expect you must be precisely that fucked up too!
• The “under” in Undersider stands for “under duress”
• What does Lisa really think about Coil and Dinah? And what does Jenny think about Coil’s power?
• Jenny will not hear any critique of Lisa’s methods when it comes to destroying Tasha
• Ted finally gets Lisa-pilled about how badly the heroes are doing in Brockton Bay: Good riddance, Boardwalk private security!
• Finally, Taylor is seen by an interlude character, and boy is she SEEN!
• Lisa, like, loves Taylor. Or at least won’t let herself hold a grudge
• Lisa’s safe focus on performance gets her companionship, and Taylor’s risky focus on authenticity gets her intimacy
• Lisa tightly controls how she dispenses her information
• Endbringer: Origins
• Come on, Dragon, just mass produce these mechs already!
• What difference can the less useful capes really make here?
• Jenny doubles down on her original Regent theory
• FORTY. CAPE. NAMES. /dies

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-x-bonus-interlude/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.2.

Episode Notes:

• Jenny wants it to be even weirder
• The story demands Taylor do something big but what could it possibly be?
• smol bean Leviathan theory
• It remains great that the Undersiders are underdogs
• How does Legend actually feel about the bad guys?
• How do normal people actually feel about the good guys?
• Listen out for the spoiler warning if you haven’t read Watchmen!
• Re-examining cops and robbers
• Why does Armsmaster even bother asking about Bitch?
• Ted’s poker face cracks
• The armbands!!!!
• Why can’t Strider simply teleport Leviathan into the ocean ad nauseam?
• The habitats and migratory patterns of the Endbringers
• Newlostland
• Brockton Bay is down but Jenny doesn’t think it’s gonna be out
• Where the mountain meets the sea
• When do we get the Endbringer hero shooter? Ted hasn’t really played anything since TF2, so does anything out there scratch the itch?
• Ted gushes about the writing and Leviathan’s bod
• Is this guy a dinosaur, an experiment, an alien, or an ever-popping water balloon?
• Jenny puts together a super group to stop Leviathan in 8.4
• Speculation on deaths and interlude characters

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-2/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Extermination 8.1.

Episode Notes:

• Jenny's dying of suspense
• A parahuman response, but no military?
• We're meeting some pretty intense capes. Amazing that they're not gonna be enough
• This is gonna be bad...but fast, apparently
• We get why the heroes are here. Unclear about the villains
• Also unclear why the Endbringer is here, actually
• Jenny has sea monster theories
• Taylor's such a fangirl
• But sadly she's part of a one-person fan club right now
• This chapter is basically the lunchroom scene in Mean Girls
• Let's get Taylor back in with the Undersiders soon, mmkay?
• Some very teenage cynicism
• Taylor finding herself a bit of an unfortunate celebrity
• How are all these villains and heroes going to organize themselves?
• Some people's motives for being in this fight may be less than pure
• Death predictions
• We do a brief survey of the capes
• There's an awkward child soldier angle here

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-8-extermination/8-1/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow

Jenny and Ted discuss Buzz 7.x.

Episode Notes:

• How Hannah sees Colin
• Jenny isn’t attending this pity party
• Why does Armsmaster even want a management role if he knows he’s bad at it?
• If she gets the chance, will Hannah be ready to lead the heroes of Brockton Bay?
• Miss Militia is much more authentically patriotic than she first seems
• Does Hannah’s advancement reflect meritocracy or instrumentalization?
• The vision: Jenny connects a few ideas with red string and Ted asks for a vibe check
• Hannah keeps her own counsel
• Connections to Kurdish history and arc 7
• Hannah has accepted some inevitable casualties
• The triggering moment
• What Hannah lost to her power
• PTSD and/or the immigrant experience
• Meritocracy and management again
• Ted delights in tinker data science
• Armsmaster WISHES he couldn’t sleep
• Come on Ted, why hate on Kid Win when Armsmaster is right there?
• The Endbringer seems like a natural disaster. Is it also a cape?
• Uh oh, they target plot!!!!
• Ted counts the ways this is an excellent chapter
• Her power isn’t meant for solving big picture problems
• Predictions and names

Links:

• https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-7-buzz/7-x-interlude-arc-7-buzz/
• https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow