Subject: Re: First Mission (concrit welcomed)
Author:
Posted on: 2012-02-09 01:04:00 UTC
Fanfic: Animist and the Anarchist by itanshi
Canon: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Rating: T
Subject: Re: First Mission (concrit welcomed)
Author:
Posted on: 2012-02-09 01:04:00 UTC
Fanfic: Animist and the Anarchist by itanshi
Canon: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Rating: T
I have finished my first mission, 'Overpowered and the Triggerhappy,' in which Agents Ari and Tera face off against two Overpowered!Sues.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZSWVVKRXDY0rrqKH2OzJKhzTC9Y4jsgqp59oZcm5f38/edit?hl=enUS
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BHisiZAyPVFIOZ8znSG4Y1oEal405TVnJhL75abStQ/edit?hl=enUS">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BHisiZAyPVFIOZ8znSG4Y1oEal405TVnJhL75abStQ/edit?hl=en_US
I'm afraid I found this mission a bit hard to follow. It was structured well, but I am unfamiliar with Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. I didn't understand what gems and cores are/do, or how the magic system in this universe works, or even the plot, really. There seems to be some kind of war going on, with cadets being trained, and occupied vs. unoccupied planets, but I don't know the causes of that war, or how this story fits into that context. It's good to explain less well-known canons to your audience (us) so we understand why the badfic is a danger to it. Details about canon characters are important, too; you said that Fate was a "White Devil", which had me picturing an egg-colored version of the Red Guy from Cow and Chicken. I didn't realize Fate was female until one of the badfic quotes referred to her with a female pronoun.
That said, you did well to include passages that anyone could recognize as bad writing, like the cute animal summons and Fury's inappropriate behavior in a military setting. These are things PPCers will be familiar with, and really showed off the general Suishness of the OCs. I also liked the setup for the assassination scene. You gave enough details to get across the feeling of impending disaster without bogging down the flow with extra info that wouldn't be needed that late in the story.
One weird thing I wanted to mention. It seems that "Nature" isn't a legitimate element in MGLN, so I assume Might of Oaks isn't a canon spell. In that case, it's probably a ripoff/homage of this Magic: the Gathering card:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191316
So if you feel like it, you could add "using a spell from another canon" to Hana's charge list. :)
Oh, I'm sorry. Nanoha isn't very popular, so I suppose I should've expected this. The Time-Space Administration Bureau is rather like an interdimensional police force. However, they won't go conquering worlds, so there's Unadministrated Worlds, (like ours) where the TSAB doesn't (usually) go. The cadets are being trained to join the Bureau, and there's no war going on. The basic plot of the season the fic takes place in is: Evil Doctor and his 12 cyborg 'daughters' want to conquer the world with an ancient artifact, the main characters form a special section to deal with him.
Nanoha, not Fate, has been nicknamed the White Devil, because of her tendency to make new friends with mecha-class beam cannons, and for a line from the second season:
*Nanoha walks out of a fire*
Character: You...devil
Nanoha: Call me a devil... (pulls out weapon.) It just means I'll have to use my hellish tools to get you to listen!
(please pardon my fangirling, that's one of my favorite scenes)
The gem thing: Weapons in the nanoha-verse (Intelligent Devices) can take a standby mode--after all, walking around with a laser gun or an energy scythe in public is kinda terrorist-y. The standby mode can take many forms, and is often a gemstone-looking object. However, it's impossible to turn a normal jewel into a Device, since they will need a lot of hardware. The cores thing...is never mentioned in canon.
No, Nature is not an element. The Mana Conversion Affinity (almost never referred to by name)is the ability to turn magic into a certain other energy, but it's usually something chemical-reaction-y. The character Signum has a fire Affinity, and Fate has a lightning one. I didn't know that Might of Oaks was a card, I'll add it.
Okay, so I have a few items I need to get to first before I say anything else:
1) When you post a mission, it's usually customary to post that mission to the front page of the wiki, in addition to everywhere else you'd post it there. Just for future reference.
2) Also for future reference, it's generally a good idea to take out all the comments your betas left for you before posting the mission. If we see the development, it can get kinda distracting.
3) In the posting of the mission, it's also standard practice to post a list of the minis and the loot that you got from the mission.
Okay. Now that I have those small issues out of the way, let's get to your mission.
Your first mission isn't that bad. That said, though, there are a few issues. For one, I felt there was an exorbitant amount of ficbit thoughout this whole thing, such that it actually really slowed down the pacing after a certain point. I'd suggest using much less ficbit than you have here.
Also, I felt a little out of the loop. This is probably because I don't know Magical Girl Nanoha and thus don't know what's overpowered and what's not overpowered, and who all those factions are. I'm not asking for As You Know, but it would help to establish that kind of thing for those of us that don't know that continuum all that well.
That said, though, there were still plenty of good moments. I think Ari and Tera both have a good rapport going for them, and when you do describe the crazy thing the fic does to the World, it's actually quite witty.
But to be completely fair, I felt the mission read a bit too much like an MST to really work effectively.
Actually, on the subject of the front page, I just tried posting my latest mission to the front page and for some reason the wiki wouldn't let me.
The Wiki has logged me out without my knowledge before.
Were you signed in? If you are not signed in to the wiki, it will not let you edit the front page.
Well, the little bar on top of the page says I'm logged in, so it's not that.
1) Sorry, I was actually having technical difficulties when I posted this here. I'll try to finish doing that today.
2) Sorry--I think that's taken care of now.
3) The minis were Hacken Form, rein, and Teana Lanstar. Only the last one is up for adoption. I got the four Portal cores, modified somehow to repress magic, and seven jewels that might or might not be magical.
I actually cut out a lot of stuff, but I'll try to include less fic next time. Also, do you think I should try to clear up some of the canon in the Author's Notes?
Posting a list of minis and loot is not standard practice. In fact, it is a fairly recent trend, which not everyone follows, myself and Nesh included (as evidenced by our last mission post). Not saying you shouldn't or can't, if you feel like it. Just don't hold it against people for not doing it.
-Phobos
Fanfic: Animist and the Anarchist by itanshi
Canon: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Rating: T