Subject: Re: Characters And Crash Dummies
Author:
Posted on: 2012-02-18 13:54:00 UTC
I haven't used a Crash Dummy (yet), but I would think that if one is in use, the real character is stuffed in a plothole somewhere. Every mission I've seen with a Dummy, there's a Sue-wraith animating the thing.
In the fic I'm PPCing right now, one canon character tells the story from her point of view. She doesn't get replaced, but she does get injured. If the Crash Dummy is getting hurt, then what happens to the canon character? Can the Medical department sew up a Dummy? After I exorcise her, how exactly do I get the character out of the dummy?
The thing about Dummies is this: usually, they're used if the story is told from the POV of a Sue/Stu. That way, the author wraith possesses the Dummy and the agents are safe to do their work as usual.
I'm not sure how that would work if it was from the POV of a canon character who isn't replaced (according to you). It is perfectly possible for a wraith to possess an agent without a dummy, though: Aster wrote a mission sporking a fic that was in first person where the author wraith possessed the central character of the continuum the story was set in.
I'm not going to make a judgment call, but I'm not sure you need the Dummy in the first place. Dummies are only there to keep the agents from getting Sued by a Sue in a first person fanfic. If it's a different character altogether, then the wraith probably won't need a new body. I'm not going to make a judgment call, but in your place that's what I'd keep in mind.
The dummy is there to provide an 'I' or 'you' that isn't the agents. Else, it would be an agent saying 'I did this and I did that' or the story/sue-wraith making an agent do things by saying 'you did this and you did that.'
In my spinoff into Dragon Age, the main character is unfortunately perfect for a Sue-wraith to possess; at the same time it has a canon background origin (and thus cannot be the agent in question), yet has a blank slate personality for the Sue to inhabit.
I would say that a fic that's from the first-person viewpoint of a canon character would just be 'as seen by that character,' and would not need a dummy.
Really? Well, that simplifies things by a lot. The characters aren't replaced (although one of them gets really close--No, the canon character isn't gentle, sweet, or modest! She's jealous and possessive! But it doesn't last long enough for her to get replaced.
I haven't used a Crash Dummy (yet), but I would think that if one is in use, the real character is stuffed in a plothole somewhere. Every mission I've seen with a Dummy, there's a Sue-wraith animating the thing.