Final Duet
Finished Arc 12, thoughts below:
Arc 12
Really interesting visuals for a trigger event. Wildbow’s definitely improved on the transitions between the trigger event and the vision in these past couple of arcs
Ixnay: “Please let this be a normal field trip…” The rest of the Megacluster: “With the March? No way!” *drives into a geometrical nightmare*
(12.z) Tori what do you mean by “you’re old enough and I don’t think it’d be weird” 🤨? Shared trait of the subway cluster is problematic age gaps ig /j
(12.z) March: “I want you to be there when I stab that teenager it’ll be so beautiful 😘” …Rizz? I guess?
Ok “Time against Space, let’s see who wins” is kinda corny but the right kind of corny for me banger line for the first big fight of this arc
(12.z) …well that’s quite the image, March.
(12.z) Flechette really was a day 1 aura farmer. Also advertising for the Wards is pretty cool if they’re all like that. Jotting that down for Chicago Wards fic ideas
Also Flechette Fizz is real?? I thought that was just a jokey alliteration rebel-sqrrl came up with there’s an actual canon basis???
The whole “triggers can come from best days and those people get the good powers” really backfires when someone gets good powers from a really fucked up trigger event, huh
(12.z) Ok that’s a really fun power. Timing and planning that also requires a relatively disciplined group to pull off. At the same time, when it comes to her personal use, she might as well be Number Man
March: “One in three of us was a drug addict it seems. I wasn’t” Homer: “I wasn’t” *slowly turns to Flechette*
(12.z) …Well that’s different. Not the usual kind of vision, something more going on it seems. Shard Afterlife?
(12.1) Tactical Carol Ball lmao. Nice to see New Wave’s strategies, really does feel like a team that’s spent a long time figuring out the synergies of their powers.
Love Victoria eyerolling every time her parents are being a dorky couple. And being self aware enough to know part of it is because she and Gallant would’ve been exactly like that in another life
(12.2) Ah, good old Cassie. Straightest girl Rachel’s known since Taylor /s
Number Boys with the mandatory polycule. I do find it interesting how compared to the Ashleys, they seem to be more or less exactly the same, to the point that they believe they’d all fall for the same person
(12.e) Interesting twist with Cradle. Not sure if the manipulation needed to be so literal with the tokens but ig we’ll see what happens with Rain
(12.3) “Give me your body” certified Wildbow moment
I remember mentioning before how the interesting part of Breakthrough’s powers is that they’re almost all pretty lethal but they have to hold back mainly because they’re heroes. Not sure how long this shift towards willingness to kill/seriously injure will last but might see a bit more of that.
(12.4) “Harbinger, think you can beat these guys once your power’s back up?” “🤓 Uhm actually, with my injuries I couldn’t-” “Shut up nerd”
“Oh I almost went to the birdcage for false accusations” oh boo hoo Mr homophobic merc
Oh they need to ‘crack’ and ‘egg’ to be able to defeat Cradle? That must be Rain’s part of the bleedthrough-
(12.all) Ooh Shard interlude. Why is thing so depressed
Golem spotted‼️ And gets mentioned as one of the main ones giving March trouble after her rubber ball trick lets go my boy
Also maybe Cuff there too? Not sure but “girl in metal armor” is mentioned right after him which isn’t exactly a specific descriptor but with the 2 put together kinda makes sense it would be her. She didn’t get to do much though
“As the hands reach from beneath her because theres nowhere else close enough” Theo. Lock in. Her sword is right there. Remember your training.
Vista 😭😭😭
So from my understanding, March in 12.z glimpsed Shard afterlife and became a lot less concerned about death because its nice there, but the shards are just seeing that its gone now after Scion’s death and are just like “how do we tell her?”
Oh shit, first time bubble unboxing (not counting the mayor). Oh hey its Dauntless, wonder how he’s doing- oh. Oh shit.
(12.5) I like to think Rachel cutting off Cassie’s ramble about how she and Chastity are totally 100% straight friends as her just being like “I’ve already had enough of this with Taylor please stop. At least you don’t need prion disease as an excuse to kiss”
Did a double take at the mention of “Nancy and Theo”. Like from context clues its a different Theo but like Wildbow why introduce another Theo? I was like “damn it im having enough trouble figuring out how to write Ava’s previous relationship in my fic now Theo has one??”
Also Charlotte mention!
(12.f) I am always surprised at how Wildbow can make the most hateable character ever and then throw out an interlude that manages to make me kinda feel a bit bad. Should I be feeling a bit bad for Cradle? Not really sure. But does kinda put us into the mind of Victoria’s advice last chapter of “it should be a bit satisfying but should still feel shitty having to kill a bad guy”
Also still not sure how I feel about the shards canonically having a bit of personality, especially with Edgelord Grasping Self over here. That said its funny how cluster triggers are like [time to connect with the host- ah fuck] [ah fuck] [ah fuck]
I kinda wish we got to see more of the asshole pre-therapy version of Rain we hear about in the early arcs and this one. Like wow he really justifiably hates the person he was back then from what’s been described of him
(12.7) Valid Victoria crashout finally, some of these people really needed to be shouted at
Oh my god it just clicked. Very late realization unrelated to the chapter. He’s called Homer because his power. Homes in on weak points. How did it take me this long.
(12.8) Thud’s power is pretty cool actually its basically this
Cradle’s post-drain powers are also interesting and would be cool to see in an adaptation, especially the lines. Once again makes me wonder how much shonen anime Wildbow binged before writing Ward
…Ok Victoria I know I wanted you to slap your mom at some point but I don’t think either of us wanted it to be this way
(12.9) I love how down to the wire that final(?) fight with Cradle was. Breakthrough and their allies fighting down to the last few people standing, fighting a bit dirty with the false surrender, almost failing to get Cradle in the end if not for Cauldron. And they got pretty brutal by the end, and as much as I worry for how that might affect some of them it’s fun to see them use their powers without holding back
(12.none) The moment I realized it was Dauntless I started tearing up a bit and it got worse the more the situation with his son was fleshed out
Jotting down Challenger’s details for future drawing
Oh god he made himself conscious 3 months in. It’s been 4 years and 2 in the ruins this poor man
Broken Second Trigger. Fuck fuck fuck.
EVERY EARTH AT ONCE??? Taylor looking out the window in Aleph rn please girl you’ve earned your retirement
Uh. Hi Simurgh. Whats up- oh. Thats why they mentioned Dauntless potentially being the next Eidolon. Fuck.
But like I’m glad he got to see his son at least. And also really funny aside there with this massive titan looking down and internally being like “Oh he has a wife ☺️… Aw man its not Mo 😔”
(12.x) My boy Golem getting a shoutout!
Narwhal please no. I’ve liked your background appearances don’t be washed in your first interlude. Don’t be case 53-ist
She’s racist AND homophobic?? Never meet your background heroes 😔 /s
March really unleashed an eldritch dad on the world and then fucked off to a cottage with her girlfriend
Oh shit, RIP Imp and Foil. Not how I expected this to end, guess March really will be our next big bad. Wonder how that’ll play out. Anyway, see y’all at the next liveblog post!
wait whys there so much chapter below
VISTA!!!
Damn thats it for March ig. Honestly thought she’d be the next antagonist. Who’s left now? Teacher, the Simurgh, Cryptid…Ok yeah thats still a lot
It took a while to get through this arc but I think it may be one of my favorite Ward arcs so far. Feels like a good culmination to a lot of different plot points (Victoria keeping the Wretch a secret finally backfiring, Rain’s cluster being more or less resolved, Foil vs March), and definitely seeming like a major turning point with the titan and the return of the Simurgh. If I had to guess this is probably the halfway point of the story (ik theres only 8 arcs left of 20 but considering how much longer late arcs can be it might as well be halfway)
