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Characters with personalities at odds with their cute appearance. There will be an explanation for this later.

I'm fine with "BTW we're acknowledging magic now." But magic still has to have some rules, even vague ones! The part that bugs me is when Kate says something about how we make stuff up to make random occurrences mean something. a) Granny Weatherwax said it better, and b) the phrasing of it really made me wonder if it wasn't RTD going "I don't have to explain things, the fans will headcanon it for me, the nerds." I mean, yeah, some of us will, but some of us don't have the spoons, and anyway it's rude for a writer to blatantly pass the buck like that!

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Spoilers now!

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Re. "Dot and Bubble": I'm fully convinced they're all going to die out there. They have zero practical skills. Plus, the Doctor wouldn't have been so upset about not being able to save them if he thought there was a chance they'd be totally fine, right?

I should say, it did confuse me a little that the explanation for everything going wrong was Rampant AI, cuz it didn't quite seem like that's where we were heading (and the fight scene with the Dot was silly, up until it wasn't). It's at least a functional explanation, though.

Re. "Rogue" (sort of): I'm still a bit mad about Barrowman. {= ( The whole thing confuses me, but only really because of the timing. The entire cast of Torchwood were quite open about the dude's sense of humor, and it seemed weird to me, but I chalked it up to Brits being maybe less uptight than Americans about nudity/sexual humor?? Anyway, it just surprised me that his antics became an issue later rather than sooner. And then he had to go and be snitty about it. RIP queer icon.

Re. Sutekh: Not gonna lie, not knowing this was the return of an Old Who villain, I was disappointed the Big Bad turned out to be Egyptian-flavored Death. I was thinking maybe Chaos, the screaming maelstrom, sort of thing. And not visibly connected to any Earth culture, especially Egypt, cuz that's been worn into the ground. :^_^: And after all the build-up, the defeat seemed far too easy, but that's a side-effect of short seasons.

The whole thing with Ruby's mom, just, sigh. "Haha, fooled you into thinking this was more important than it is! All that mysterious stuff is just stuff; it doesn't have to mean anything. Make something up if it bothers you. That's what humans do, remember?"

Red from OSP has a video about bathos (both the unintentional kind we in the PPC are most familiar with and the modern, intentional kind), and I keep thinking this is exactly what she was talking about with intentional bathos sometimes being a symptom of writers too afraid to commit to an idea in case people don't like it. "Haha, you thought this was going to be a big emotional moment? Psych!" That sort of thing. The downside is that we become jaded, unable to care about anything, because we're waiting for the rug to be pulled at any moment. That's how I'm feeling about this, except with narrative satisfaction rather than character moments. The character moments have generally been good!

I hope they do better with the writing next season. We are here for this; please be here for us!

~Neshomeh

Nice catch on the title-drop; I'm not sure we've ever had a season where they title-dropped every episode before. It's certainly never been so prominent.

SPACE Babies aside, I feel like the endings have been the weakest parts of most of these episodes, so I wanted to share my thoughts on them specifically.

Space Babies: "The snot monster is people too!" I don't know why the Doctor concluded this. The snot monster is functionally a fire alarm - it makes the kids do what the system wants by scaring them - but we don't assume our fire alarms must be sentient. I'm also, still, really really annoyed by "the partly-open airlock sucks the Doctor against the door, not towards the opening".

The Devil's Chord: okay, but seriously: you don't crow about 'needing a genius', and then a) only explicitly connect that to the Doctor (not the Beatles), and then b) have the task given to the Actual Beatles be 'add one note to the mysteriously floating chord, no penalties for failure, just try again'. I'm also frustrated by the fact that we established early on that history had changed (the Doctor says "that didn't happen", something about Finland) - but never went back and fixed it. I guess the Cold War was hotter now, oh well, on to our next adventure right???

Boom: kiss kiss. It was quite silly that the emulated human had access to the entire global weapon operating system, but... literally the point of the episode is that the weapons are built on the cheap and badly, this is exactly the sort of stupid design flaw we should expect. (As a side note, why didn't the Doctor do anything about Villengard? Because he already did, back in Stephen Moffat's first episode.)

73 Yards: How did it all work? Magic. Kate told us that to our faces: UNIT carry salt now, remember? Empire of Death later establishes that 73 yards is the radius of the TARDIS' perception filter field, so presumably the episode combined two effects: a magic trap which blipped the Doctor out of existence, and the TARDIS pulling Ruby back from the end of her timeline to try and avert its Doctor's disappearance. In that light, the question of 'what she was saying' is clearly wrong: the people who encountered Her witnessed her entire timeline at once, it would drive anyone to run screaming. (It's quite funny that she says 'yards' - Britain has been metric for long enough that even I don't use yards much, and Ruby is much younger.)

Dot and Bubble: It's only purity if it's from the purity region of Finetime; otherwise it's just sparkling racism. It's kind of weird that the survivors just... get away with being horrible people? They go off to found a colony, they're fine. But I think that's part of the message too, because rich kids.

Rogue: No questions. I liked the payoff on the combat earbuds. (The reason Rogue is so very Jack Harkness Redux is that John Barrowman turned out to be A Huge Problem. Quite funny that RTD chose to so blatantly replace him; I wonder whether it was partly to draw attention to Barrowman's actions.)

The Legend of Ruby Sunday: "I bring Sutekh's gift of death to all humanity." Oh my gosh this was so fun. I was cackling like a loon. Sutekh?? Really?! I have the DVD of that old story; it includes a whole spoof documentary about Sutekh, so all I could think was "I bring Sutekh's gift of cookies...". Disappointed that it wasn't Susan, though maybe that means she's coming next season. Carole Ann Ford is still alive and all.

Empire of Death: Okay, so yeah. Sutekh hung to the side of the TARDIS for a thousand years or so in the time vortex, but this time doing so was fatal? Why, exactly? And Doctor, "bringing death to death" doesn't sound as cool as you think it does. My best explanation for this is that by killing Sutekh in the vortex, the Doctor wiped the effects of Sutekh's actions from history, though that doesn't explain why everyone still remembers. Nor does it explain why he died, nor why the Doctor jumped straight to murder as a solution. (It's as bad as that time Thirteen decided treason against Space Amazon was a capital crime.)

But also, what was up with the Ruby reveal? Her mother is just nobody, fine. So why did the Doctor's memories of his encounter with her keep changing? Why did it keep snowing? Was Ruby just So Adopted that she broke reality because the Doctor told her she was special?

My best guess here is a combination of Sutekh and that time window. When the Doctor landed outside the church, Sutekh sensed the future use of the time window. Maybe he didn't understand what it was - he just felt the Doctor and Ruby were there one and a half times each - or maybe he knew exactly what it was, and how desperate the Doctor must be to use it. That convinced him that Ruby Sunday must be super special (and therefore a threat). The snow Ruby kept manifesting was actually Sutekh trying to force her memories to manifest in reality, so that he could figure out who she was.

Does that line up with what the Doctor said? Not really, but remember Rule One: the Doctor lies. Specifically he lies to make Ruby feel better. (Just like he lied about thinking she shouldn't go and see her birth mother; that's not a conversation you have after you take her directly to the woman, so it was either a lie or the Doctor really not understanding humans... or bad script-writing.)

hS

You've got quite a few thoughts about the prophecy! I'm only going to say that all of the prophecies are meant to be read in multiple ways, and so multiple people could fulfil them, including Trelawney's! But also, my notes on the tarot cards:

death referring not to death but rather end of cycle, beginnings, change, metamorphosis; upright hierophant referring to tradition, conformity, morality, ethics; reversed temperance referring to extremes, excess, lack of balance

Make of that what you will!

Yeah it wasn't too hard to figure out how to write a totally out-of-touch old fart who doesn't care about the rise of authoritarianism as long as it doesn't affect him personally :P

The friend who came up with the spell says 'thank you'!"

As for the Mysterious Ticking Noise, all I have to say is that I bet the Inquisitorial Squad version goes a bit like this:
Crabbe. Crabbe. Vincent Crabbe
MILLICENT!
Crabbe. Goyle! Crabbe. Goyle! Crabbe. Greg Goyle!
Crabbe. McLaggen. Crabbe. McLaggen. Crabbe. McLaggen.
Crabbe. DRACO MALFOY I'M DRACO MALFOY YEAH

Thanks for catching the typo!

Harry and friends go to the protest, while Draco takes matters at Hogwarts into his own hands.

(Or: Umbridge f***s around and finds out, part two.)

Warnings: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH. And a minor character death, too. Also: massive crowds, police brutality (specifically use of pepper spray), B9 immolation and other fire-related injuries (one character has their arm set on fire and another is immolated), explosions, temporary disability (Harry loses his hearing for a couple lines), attempted strangulation, crushing injuries, use of Umbridge's black quill, use of the Cruciatus curse. Please read at your own discretion!

I think that's the only one that didn't leave me dissatisfied in some way. It hits hard and leaves you with lots to think about.

"Rogue" is nearly as good in a very different way, that being fun shenanigans with time travel plus aliens. And yes, can confirm the Bridgerton pastiche is hilarious, since I'd just started watching that when this ep aired! The amount of fangirling/fanboying is delightful. ^_^ I don't actually remember what bugged me about it; it was something minor. Anyway, I hope the guest character will be back!

"Empire of Death" does say its own title, via the Big Bad or one of the lackeys, I think.

The ending makes me even more annoyed at "73 Yards" for lampshading the lack of real explanations for things, like that makes it okay. "Haha, you want things to make sense? Nerds!" Jeez, sorry for caring. {= /

Overall I would say the good outweighs the bad, though! I'm definitely still on board for the next season!

~Neshomeh

Now that the full series is out, I wanted to give my spoiler-free thoughts on the eight episodes. Don't worry, spoilery thoughts on the finale will follow. :D

Space Babies

The weakest of the series, which makes it a baffling decision as the opener. Apparently some people loved it, but the science was a shambles, the Doctor leapt to many many conclusions, the CGI was uncanny, and SPACE babies.

The Devil's Chord

The second weakest, unfortunately. I cannot fault the acting, and it did suffer from still having to explain things (the sonic, for instance), but it also made weird choices. I've already complained about this, I think. :D

Boom

MUCH better. Not the greatest episode, but far better. The plot beats strung together a lot better than in Devil's Chord, and while the physics didn't really work the way the script claimed, it still worked.

73 Yards

Might be the best episode of the series? The plot was fun, and the way Ruby used the main feature of the plot to her advantage was cool. The ending was a bit... vague on how it actually worked, and RTD is not helping in interviews about what she said.

Dot and Bubble

A very clever episode with something - actually several things - to say. The twists were very deliberately out of nowhere, for all that there are small hints seeded throughout.

Rogue

So much fun. Apparently even more fun if you actually watch the show Ruby brings up, because there are specific references seeded throughout. And yes, that character being introduced is very deliberately extremely familiar.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday

Pretty good. The Doctor spends a lot of time running between two plots that seem to have no bearing on each other, but which he has just randomly decided are connected. The reveal at the end had me rocking with surprised laughter while the rest of the family stared at me in bafflement.

Empire of Death

Maybe the only episode which didn't say its own title, though I might just not remember it. A very RTD finale: high stakes, the companion rather than the Doctor stuck in the middle of it, and an ending to the series arc plot that doesn't quite satisfy. This particular ending left a huge blazing "but that doesn't work", which we can headcanon into sense but it would be nice if it had actually hung together. But overall it was good!

More, and spoilery, thoughts on the finale when I get a chance, but overall I liked the series, liked the cast, and wish some of the scripts could have been better.

hS

I'm up for it! 4k words doesn't sound like too much, I think I can help with it.

--Ls will help with the co-write, too, Soon (tm)

Hello! Sorry it's been a minute, been busy as of late (real life kicking into overdrive). However, I did manage to scrounge up energy and finish a short, 4k word Interlude now ready for a second pair of eyes. There was an attempt at writing Makes-Things in a major role, but unfortunately due to a combination of being unable to find good sources for the specific scenario he reacts to here, it being based on a one-off joke from a different spinoff, and me being generally rusty when trying to push through this, I worry that I didn't quite get his character vibes right.

As usual, I'm available for contact via email or the Discord.

Well, now! This was unexpected! I saw that simple little drawing, and the creature’s mannerisms while inspecting Kaguya, and was expecting something cutesy, or at worse, some mischievous helper creature, like Kero-chan from Cardcaptor Sakura. I wasn’t mentally prepared for that shriek, or the anger, or the general grouchy personality. You caught me well off-guard! I take it the little guy is an incarnation of the “rabbit in the moon” from Japanese culture? I guess he has a lot to learn about real humans!

In the sentence, “Once the rabbit fell to the floor, he cackled menacingly, his blue eyes started glowing,” you’ll want an “and” in between “he cackled menacingly” and “his blue eyes started glowing,” since they could stand on their own as full sentences: “Once the rabbit fell to the floor, he cackled menacingly, and his blue eyes started glowing.”

—doctorlit is starting with the rabbit in the moon; he’s asking him to change his ways

Nice to see you around, Ekwy.

--Ls

Well, I’m glad Oshimo at least kept her word, even though she was rather misleading about the process. It was a fun adventure to read, though probably less fun for the agents to experience!

How ironic that once their original appearances were restored, their employer immediately made them cover up with character costumes! Can’t get away with anything, in the PPC universe!

And that was a sweet little mini-interlude at the end of the final story! It goes to show how far the relationship between Kaguya and Momoka has developed.

—doctorlit would find it easier to interact with strangers, if he were hidden in a costume

Working. Just celebrated Midsummer with friends, it was pleasant. Managed to be in the countryside without a single mosquito bite, which is rare! They usually flock to me. And also there were cats there. Cats are nice.

Am about 8000 words into an interlude that will heavily feature Psychonauts-related elements, am pretty excited about that even if I'm not even close to approaching an ending. It's trucking along though! It's just got a lot of notes that go "AND THEN MORE OF THIS TYPE OF CONVERSATION HAPPENED BUT WHATEVER ON WITH THE STORY WHO CARES" which I will obviously have to, uh, fix. The number of hours I have spent on this interlude is frankly insane.

I remain present on the Board. Just imagine me peering in through the door occasionally to see what's going on.

/Ekwy, waving

Oh yeah, the vibes were bad going into this one. I’m pretty sure Vablatsky is seeing the Basilisk in her early vision, and I had an inkling the “hierophant” from her second appearance was Gaunt. Peeking at the Potterverse Wiki, I see that Basilisks are also referred to as “the King of Serpents,” which means Trelawney’s prophecy is likely also alluding to it; in fact, I rather hope she is, because “the crown pierced with a sword” could then mean Slytherin’s Basilisk is going to meet the same fate as its canon counterpart, though apparently “at a heavy cost.” (Side note: this was an amazing way to introduce Trelawney for the first time! Having her unexpectedly drop a full prophecy on live spellcast in the middle of a fraught election is a seriously powerful scene, and I love it, both as a paragraph to read, and when picturing how much of New Avalon just heard it live in their living rooms! people must be freaking out!) Ultimately, I guess I knew at some level that Gaunt winning made the most sense from a plot standpoint, but I still didn’t want it, and I was still reading each new set of vote counts with my stomach hanging below my knees. And now that Gaunt is in a position of governmental power again, the protagonists are going to have to do a lot of fighting to—Oh no, hang on, “Temperance’s sacrifice will go to naught” . . . I need to look up what “temperance” means real quick.

. . . Dang it, Lily. Don’t do this to us! Temperance is Regulus, isn’t it? I’m going all out of order for how I wanted to write this comment, but I can’t pretend like I’ve forgotten the plot of Order of the Phoenix. That dream sequence of memories, wonderful as it is, didn’t really come from Lily, did it? Harry didn’t practice his Occlumency properly, someone’s planted memories in his head to trick him into going to the Ministry, and we’re going to lose Sirius a second time. The future is bleak!

(And for a significantly more unhinged prediction, I still haven’t let go of my semi-joking comment about Astoria carrying out Harry’s Act of Contrition, in the form of bringing him Gaunt’s head. Looking at this line in Trelawney’s prophecy: “A Pureblood of wild heart and immense power, bearing the crown pierced with a sword, shall bring forth the new Camelot and rescue their fallen House from perdition.” That does sound an awful lot like Astoria; she’s Pureblood, she’s wild for her fundamentalist religion, she IS powerful, in spite of her blood curse, as I alluded to before, since she was able to overpower numerous uncursed students, as well as two adult men, one of whom had no curse affecting his magic. Her House could be viewed as “fallen,” in the sense that she and her aunt are both criminals. If she’s the one “bearing the crown pierced,” my theory at the moment is that she really is going to behead Gaunt, only for the Basilisk to be revealed as a Horcrux, allowing him to resurrect as a more “traditionally Voldemort” figure, and seize greater control, “bring[ing] forth the new Camelot.” As you can see, I am engaging with this story at a completely normal and healthy level!)

Excellent writing in that opinion piece in the Prophet; it gets across the sheltered attitude of the privileged sort of people whose lives don’t change when the reins of power change, and have no recognition for the suffering that a bigoted, controlling authoritarian can cause people in marginalized groups. I also love that “Encombrer” spell, because of course Hagrid has been learning French spells from Maxime, and of course the French have a literal barricade spell! And, of course, I have to acknowledge your reference to one of the most highbrow pieces of literature ever produced from the Harry Potter zeitgeist, the mysterious ticking noise!

One question on this line:
“Sev, please, begged Mum, cradling a wailing Harry to his chest as the agony of a snapped Matrimonial Bond burned right through her.
I’m not sure if that “his” is an error, or if it’s an acknowledgement that Harry is experiencing his baby self against his own chest, since he’s in Lily’s point of view in that memory?

—doctorlit is filled with dread for the future of this story, and for another upcoming election . . .

If you haven't read Children of Time yet, I'd recommend it - the spiders are a fun look at non-human people. (Well, and, also, a solid chunk of everything C.J Cherryh ever wrote)

I can't say much on the audiobook/physical book question since I don't usually go in for printed books because my eyes aren't up for that sort of thing these days, though e-readers still work for me.

I love robots, and have been hoping to find some fun books with robot MCs for a while. This sounds perfect (and, as you said, very relatable) for me, and probably for a lot of other robot lovers too.

There are so many books/stories/narratives out there that treat human experience as the only "important" or "relatable" type of conscious experience (some of which go so far as to elevate human emotions to cosmic significance), and I feel like even those stories that prominently feature non-human characters rarely stop to examine or celebrate the nuances/realities of non-human lives/conscious experiences. The well thought out depictions of non-human entities is one of the main reasons I liked Watership Down, Good Omens, and Becky Chambers's books so much. Someone can be a Person without being a Human. In other words, I'm glad that The Murderbot Diaries exist, and I'll definitely read the series.

I think that second paragraph got a little more philosophical than I intended. Sorry.

I've been traveling a lot in the past few months, but I finally arrived home a few days ago. I'd like to work on both personal and PPC related writing projects, but I haven't been able to find the motivation as of late. For now I'm just focusing on recovering from my long trip, reading, listening to Night Vale, educating myself about the internet, and gaming. I have plans to learn 3d modeling and printing soon, so I might have more to do with my time in the future. Oh, and I finally finished the PPC original series.

Yes, there wasn't much of a fight in the books. I just wanted some Yakety Sax, Benny Hill-level chase between the Inquisitorial Squad and the Debate Association! The Patil Twins weren't raised to oppose each other; Padma is just more for propriety than Parvati is. She supports Umbridge because of that, while Parvati joined the DA to make friends.

Fred and George's portrait exit is a hint about how they ended up upstairs at the Hog's Head back in October ;) And keep an eye on Neville's plant spell!

To get into the mood to parody evil!Dumbledore, I parodied John Oliver's "Eat S***, Bob" song! It was very fun to write. :P And you may be onto something--those potions were not cheap at all!

I mean, I'd also argue straight-haired Pureblood with big boobs and bigger ballgowns Hermione can't hurt me either, and yet here I am...

Yes, see, it's a bit of explaining Umbridge's background and humanising her to show why she's such a stickler, but also trying to remind everyone that she chose to be heinous about it in order to try and claw herself some status. I'm glad you liked the namedrop of HSoP&M because that was one of the very first jokes I wanted to crack for this rewrite and I finally got to do it :D

I'm glad you liked the rebellion, and the students uniting, and Dobby's backstory for G.R.U.E.L. There is magic in a union!

I picture coven schooling to be like homeschooling pods, in a way, and I think it's a reasonable alternative to Hogwarts... in a world where Purityworld isn't a thing. :P Though there was an offhanded mention of a Healer coven run by Veela in Bulgaria! It's not all bad, I swear!

FÖRVIRRING was introduced earlier in the year as a "potion that'll make people stupid", or rather, a confusion potion.

Thanks for reading!

The O.W.Ls and the 1996 Ministerial by-election take place.

Warning for a depiction of a panic attack.

Okay, that was funny. I love Mr. Usuasagi now.

--Ls

Set in March 2023. During Doll Festival, Kaguya is assigned to meet with a strange rabbit-like creature

Oh, this was an excellent action scene to open on! I was trying to wrack my brain on how the scene had gone in canon, and checking just now, it was really just Harry taking the Trip Jinx from Draco. So yes, I love your fight scene, awful though it is to see the Inquisitorial Squad attacking other students. (Seeing the Patil twins on opposite sides of the conflict is particularly painful, despite how little page time they’ve had in both canon and Heirs of Avalon; I guess I hate to think that twins have grown up so ideologically opposed to each other to wind up in a fight like this?) And speaking of twins, I love the quick detail that Fred and George have become so knowledgeable of Hogwarts’s layout, that they even knew of a secret passage in and out of the Room of Requirement. And Neville learning a form of spell he’s proficient at, involving a magic plant, of course, is quite satisfying to see!

Dumbledore goes so hard in the scene in his office. It was one thing in canon, where he saw his name on the Dumbledore’s Army paper and seized on it as an opportunity to take the blame. But in this chapter, he just goes for it, absolutely concocts his own evil!Dumbledore fanfiction plot on the spot. And cramming that last bit of, “Draco, I totally bank-robbed you, mua ha ha” was so unexpected and random I could barely move past it, it was just too funny! (I guess that was Dumbledore giving Draco an excuse to Lucius for all the potions he had bought for Luna throughout the year?)

The argument and break-up between Harry and Qiu was inevitable, and I’m glad they finally reached that point and got it over with. It was an excellent fight, they both got their digs in, they made the other people in the room hilariously uncomfortable (have fun falling asleep thinking about Draco’s moisture level, Ron!), and they left the room on equal terms. Well done, kids! And the apology before the Quidditch game was just as good, both offering some thought towards the other’s friend who had led to the fight, both keeping their distance without turning mean again. The kids are all right!

Nice try, Lily, you can describe “beardless Hagrid” as many times as you like, but Hagrid has a beard. My brain is incapable of picturing him any other way, and neither you nor I have the power to change that. There is only one Hagrid, and nothing can change that. My therapist says beardless Hagrid isn’t real, and can’t hurt me.

Umbridge is the worst, that’s always been clear. But this chapter really gets across what a pathetic pick-me witch she is. The new info revealed about her family: she paid her own father to leave the country? It doesn’t matter how much she does to conform to New Avalon, because she will only, ever, be allowed and welcomed to blend in at the bottom. “I’m not like those other Muggleborns, I’m one of the good ones!” But never good enough to be accepted by her own Inquisitorial Squad as Headmistress, never good enough to take on the “priest” role at dinner, never good enough to climb where her ambitions reaches for. Because the Purebloods will never see her to be as good as them. That’s just not how a hierarchical society works; the people at the top will only ever allow those below them to disappear into the mass of commoners. Now, to be very clear, I am in no way feeling bad for Umbridge here, just pitying her for all the worthless effort she’s going to, to get absolutely nowhere. She really does seem to want that “priest” role, leading the prayers, simply because she wasn’t allowed to when she was a student. (And yuck, prayer in school, maybe the Catholic and Hindu and atheist/agnostic students don’t want to thank your deity for the food? Amazingly unexpected name drop for Hogwarts School of Prayer and Miracles, though!) And that detention session was way beyond the pale, flexing on a fifteen-year-old that she had the power to hurt his friends . . . She is pathetic and sick and disturbing.

So, viva la revolution! There was something so empowering and energizing in the moment when the newest Polixenes pamphlet appeared on the front page of this culture’s biggest newspaper, for a student publication to receive such a mainstream and high profile level of distribution . . . it just feels so right and vindicating, after everything Hermione has gone through this year! And I love that the ensuing state of rebellion even goes beyond the changes that Umbridge enacted, because why do the students have to sit at assigned tables for meals? Maybe the houses wouldn’t develop grudges so easily if they weren’t basically segregated from each other! I hope that particular behavior doesn’t relapse after Umbridge leaves! And Dobby is out here speaking deep truths: as I think I mentioned in a comment earlier this year, keeping the students bickering among each other, and shattering connections between different friend groups, was an explicit goal for Umbridge to help keep control over the student body. Authoritarians are allergic to a united lower class! And I love that Dobby was able to push the elves to strike partly through the story of the friendship that had grown between Draco and Ron.

I love the detail that the centaurs use a lot of spider silk in their tools. It makes sense they would take advantage of the acromantula colony’s presence in the forest as a resource. And silk is underappreciated for its strength! And also, it’s just a cool thing to exist, that a group of animals can produce their own, organic building material! Wow, I’m rambling . . . My last note says, “coven schools are charter schools oh god,” which is all that needs to be said there, I think!

—doctorlit kind of wants to ask what FÖRVIRRING actually is, but then again, maybe he really, really doesn’t

The comic version of the fourth Wings of Canon mission, An Awkward Exorcism. The differences are fairly minor, mostly dialogue being revised since a good decade passed between the two versions and my writing improved. The most glaring change being Corolla saying a line that was originally Sergio’s, while casting some shields that weren't mentioned in the original version but ended up being not needed.

So, the two timelines (3.001, the Canon PPC one, and 3.005) can be considered to have merged back just a few hours into the split and, as I said already in the commentary accompanying the comic, if in The World Without Authors we have, say, 3.001 Sergio and 3.005 Nikki they would never notice that they are from different timeliness!