The chronicles of Project Horizons : chapter 63 to 67 · 2:37am Dec 18th, 2018
Why a quintuple here ? Because I wanted to take care of all the revelations at once and they are a tons. Too much actually and so much so that it makes the story go from grounded to a ridiculous mess of conspiracy upon conspiracy upon conspiracy and coincidences upon coindences that just tries its hardest to work but honestly, the convoluted aspect of it all, despite being prepared for a while, feels forced and honestly makes the story become insanely silly. More so than usual. I'll try to be... a bit clearer as we go through the chapters.
Let's go !
Chapter 63 is a sort of prologue of sorts for the last book of this fiction : it explains that between 62 and 63, three months has passed, everyone believes Blackjack to have died during the megaspell that destroyed Shadowbolt Tower but Rampage and Glory still have hope that she isn't. There is not much to say about this chapter that focuses more on characters evolving outside of Blackjack's influence. It is a nice chapter that shows the evolution of a lot of things and I'm quite happy to see Somber go outside the confines of the FO:E canon now. It was a bit restrictive for him I think to be limited by a two months time frame. However, there are a lot of things I didn't get. For example, Glory says that BJ is immune to Enervation but... since when ? I mean she is resistant to it because of her cybernetic body but she clearly was affected by it so I'm a bit lost about that remark.
Hell, I'm not really sure why Boo is resistant to Enervation either but she seems to have a few mysteries that I didn't get to despite being on chapter 68 currently. All that we know is that she's immortal for some odd reason and seeing the quality of the twists so far, I am not in a hurry to learn what's her deal is. Besides, mascot characters that are secretly the key to something are really something I don't like, so let's avoid that subject.
In any case, of course BJ isn't dead and she simply spied on people that had a Pipbuck. How does she have the Pipbuck Tag of people like Steel Rain, Twister and the likes ? She couldn't have hacked them since we know she's potato at the stuff and she couldn't have known them since... when would she have learned the Pipbuck tag of Steel Rain ? Speaking of Steel Rain, he made so that Cognitum hates Dawn now because she was obsessed with becoming the champion of Cognitum and apparently is the very reason that the Harbingers are incompetent as fuck. Honestly, it feels like a cope-out but I don't think BJ needs excuses to explain why she constantly wins.
In any case, the arrival of the pegasi did change a lot of things and the Enclave disappearance on top of the Book of LittlePip did change the world a bit but Hoofington is under a constant rain because BJ destroyed Shadowbolt Tower. The world has been altered but somehow... also remained static because neither the Harbingers nor the Remnants did shit in three months precisely because Cognitum has a female boner for BlackJack and wants to wait for her.
The chapter ends with Rampage finding BJ and Boo in the Core and yes, I didn't talk about several other characters because I don't care about them and they could be making sand castles that I would care the same.
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The chapter begins with an explanation of how BJ is where she is and why she didn't escape. We also learn that BJ needed to masturbate and so she peeped on many people, Scotch Tape among other things and I have to pause here : Somber, my dear Somber, can you spare us the child porn allusion please ? It's not endearing, it's not quirky, it's fucking creepy both for BJ and for the reader. Thank you very much, moving on.
After a fight against an abomination, we learn that the necklace that BJ stole to Steel Rain on a whim back at the Society is actually a Moonstone and this substance is deadly for the abominations of the Core and it also protects from the Enervation effects. I don't remember Rampage being immune to Enervation, especially one so strong since we're near the Core. Did I miss her having a Moonstone necklace because I don't think she had one ? If you noticed something that I missed, please let me know in the comments.
Then BJ eats a bit of the necklace (which is stupid but BJ is selectively stupid for the narrative.) Then we get a vision of the past where the Moon just recognizes BJ after offering her a bit of a mind trip. BJ then explores the O.I.A hub which is a boring place and the best we get is a video showing us Horse talking about a way to use moonstone to make more Star Metal, which will explain the details of Cognitum's plan later. Essentially, we'll have a lot of redundant informations.
Then BJ fights against some Steel Rain troops. BJ learns that Enervation is so strong here that removing the Moonstone necklace of someone just makes them die in a matter of seconds which really make it weird for me. The fuck is Rampage not dying or completely mad ? And why didn't BJ's kid die from Enervation ? Again, since when is she "immune". The fact that she wasn't immune is the whole reason she had noodle legs back in chapter 26 or so. Hell, each time she faced an Enervation ring, she was extremely weakened by it, even as a cybernetic entity, in Roseluck HQ for example, she had to run away to not get liquified, so I am really at a loss here. Any suggestions from you guys ?
We also learn that Steel Rain and Rampage works together and that the Dealer is becoming extremely suspicious. Double traitor is better than one I suppose. After a scene where BJ becomes the network and goes mad for a bit, we have a discussion with the Eater of Souls/Tokomare itself and... he is as uninteresting as the rest. Speaking in all caps and the likes but making clear that he is not Cognitum.
Then later we see GB making clear that Project Horizons was something he did under the influence of the Eater of Souls. Keep that in mind, it's a way for Somber to try and slowly shift a part of the blame away from his beautiful GB. Skipping ahead, the Legate appears in front of our trio of friends but he wants to kill not BJ but Boo ! What could possibly justify this change in target ? Well, Discord seems to have taken residence inside of Boo after Hypocratic and it also seems that the legate is eternal just like Rampage.
What will happen ?!
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Fair warning : This chapter is the stronghold of a lot of stupid (and I mean it) decisions on the part of Somber and I'll try to make it clear how each things is problematic to me because boy, it's revelation time and sometimes not knowing is a blessing in disguise.
During the fight we learn that the Brood of Coyotl (which is the Zebra name for Discord) are actually Blanks controlled through Steelpony. Since when is Steelpony, a project meant to give people mechanical enhancements, have ANY link to forcing an AI into the brains of Blanks, I have no idea. They say that they are loyal automatons but controlled by who ? Cognitum ? Through what Network ? I'm really confused about that because I don't get how it works. Why not just making plain robots like Applebot or Sweetie bot with integrated weapons ? What's the point of using twice the resources to create Blanks that you don't need ? Hell, seeing how mechanical Dawn become, it seems likely that Cognitum doesn't care about people of flesh and blood so... what gives ?
The fight ends with the Legate having his head blown off but he is immortal and already regenerating, forcing them to flee since they have no way of destroying an immortal enemy. After that, BJ confronts Rampage about her betraying her and she leaves with Discord towards the tunnels of the Core. There's also an odd discussion with Discord essentially saying that FO:E is a "wrong" timeline, that something went wrong and things went offscript. I don't know if that's supposed to be an elaborate joke about breaking the fourth wall or an actual, substantial element. I will refrain my judgement for now.
We also learn that the Legate seems to be an immortal being that is centuries old and that fought with Discord on many occasions meaning that he is some sort of champion of the Stars or what have you. Keep that in mind because the Legate is a can of worms in and of itself. Then there's a fight against a giant scorpion. Useless fight to boot, however I would like to point out a quote :
Enemies I could fight with no moral complications. Opponents who were clear threats to me and my baby, which I could dispatch guilt-free. It didn’t matter where I was. This was the moment where, for several manic, magical seconds, I was alive from horn to hoof, metal or not. This was joy. This was sex. This was life!
This is very interesting for me because it shows how extremely self-centered BJ is. Her desire to destroy her enemies in a blaze of glory is extremely symptomatic of someone who is lying to themselves. She find joy in destruction, killing and such because she doesn't have to think, she doesn't have to pretend she's the nice one and here is the thing : it could be interesting to analyze this dichotomy of a character who YEARNS for destruction and yet impose on themselves a strict code of conduct but the issue with BJ is that she denies that part of herself which makes her appear like a sanctimonious, self-righteous hypocrite and that fact hasn't changed at all since the beginning of the story. BJ finds joy in senseless violence and in absolute slaughter, the self-imposed vision of a goodie two shoes being the sole thing that makes this visceral persona of her, silent.
With this quote, you have the very synthesis of my issue with BJ. She is a thrill seeker, a destruction giver that wants to believe she's more than she actually is but she isn't fooling anyone but herself in that aspect. Some might find this... endearing or true to life. I find it tiresome and repetitive and frustrating when no one calls her on her bullshit without being scared by Miss "Shooty look".
I could talk about Somber's way of using Discord to try and make BJ more than she actually is but I find this endeavour to be fruitless so I'll refrain. I am not against Somber's Discord but then again he is very much a side character and only there to allow for BJ to live later.
But now it comes to the big reveal ! Who is Cognitum ? This villain that seems to have a full control over the Harbingers, that can transform Dawn into a creature of metal and cybernetics and seem to be behind so many things in this fiction ?
The Sweetie Fuckbot of Horse with the mind of Princess Luna in it.
...
Excuse me ? The big villain that manipulated Blackjack by being in the network, sending her on a wild goose chase through the guise of Applebot and even saving her life in Hightower through the use of the Core's defense is simply an AI gone mad that think itself to be the true Princess Luna ? The big villain is a glorified sex toy with the mind of the Princess that was taken by accident at this one was disguised as the mare known as Eclipse ? Is there a word for something beyond "anticlimactic" ?
But beyond that, the convoluted aspect of this reveal is accompanied by the fact that apparently, Cognitum somehow managed to take Sanguine and the clone of Blackjack from Hyppocratic before it exploded even though at the time, she was utterly focus on getting EC-1101 by using an Ultra-Sentinel. Besides, again tell me if I'm wrong but I don't see any Moonstone necklace on the bodies of Sanguine and the clone and we know for a fact that Enervation does affect ghouls... So why the fuck are they not liquified ?
As for the Luna in the mind of Cognitum, it's every bit the cliché of the scared ruler that thinks everyone is against her and with a severe inferiority complex, there's nothing here but a sad creature working for her own selfish needs. I don't know what to say, she works on stolen ideals to create a world that is just a fabrication to sate her own needs. She also wants the body of BJ because she's in awe of her since the very beginning of the story. I can't explain how much this villain is disappointing so instead, I'll try to show why.
Also, we learn that Snips didn't die in the explosion of a balefire megaspell because his bone are soul jars... Isn't megaspells the very thing that can destroy Soul Jars ? Is Somber just pulling convenient cards after convenient cards out of his ass to make this work because that's some heavy bullshit right here. Also, how does a soulless AI transfers her AI to a cyborg body using Soul Magic ? How does anything make sense right now ?
Also, we learn that both Rampage and the Dealer are traitors to BJ that worked with Cognitum. One because she wants to die and the other because he doesn't want to die and she has his body. Then we learn that Sweetie Fuckbot was also Applebot :
“Because I cannot rule my domain as memories within a machine, however endowed. I needed a living vessel, and I knew that if you possessed EC-1101 and it functioned for you, you might come across other vital data like Steelpony, Chimera, and Eternity. So I tested you, sending you to areas of greater and greater peril. I knew that you would become stronger. Better. That was your slogan, after all.” She gave a smug smile. “Had you failed, I would have dispatched a robot to get it off your body, or retrieved it from Sanguine, or sent Applebot or Dawn to get it from your friends. And I kept Dawn as a spare, in the event that the worst happened.”
Do you realize what this means ? It means the entire fiction is just a glorified series of adventures just to make sure Cognitum can have a powerful vessel to rule over the world. Cognitum just needs a mustache to twirl and an evil laughter and she would be all set. This whole quest is a pointless sequence of events that is sparked by the fact that a fuckbot fell in awe of a Mary Sue and wanted to be inside her body to feel all satisfied and on top of the world ? Sure, you could say that doesn't devalue the experience of the individual events themselves but it also means that something needs to happen and I want you to understand me here so I'll be extremely clear :
I assert that Blackjack has killed, maimed, tortured for the sake of her own curiosity born from the utter manipulation of glorified sextoy and her own stubborness.
This should be a soul crushing moment for Blackjack because all of her pain, the lives that she destroyed and sacrificed on the route to know more about the past was all for naught. She did learn about the secrets of the past but will she now realize the utter pointlessness of her quest and how the fact that she constantly rushed into the fray cost more pain and deaths that her quest warranted ? I am completely fine with her being manipulated and used but for Miss Angst, the fact that she doesn't "awaken" from this revelation is impressively sad.
What is an awakening ? Here, it symbolizes a huge shift in character. It's a turning point of character evolution where you can grow stronger or weaker from it. The crushing realization that the entire selfish desire to know more and going from point A to point B was instrumentalized by someone else for absolutely no other reason than to prepare her for possession should be a moment of utter anguish, utter disgust for yourself but you can turn this feelings of horror to become more, to stand above the one you were before and use your pain and suffering not as a shield to deflect responsibility like Somber likes to do without telling (because believe me, he just loves to torture his character to make it okay for her to do the vilest shit) but as a sword to destroy your enemies.
I like the idea that a spirit is tampered by pain and the careful strikes of a well-prepared spirit on a psyche. As such, Blackjack should first experience the horror of this reveal fully but grow stronger from it eventually. She needs to go beyond angst or "not thinking about it" but I doubt we'll have anything close to what I like to see.
So what is there more about our Cognitum that stole BJ's body thanks to the living bones of Snips. Oh, more about BJ ? Let's see it :
“When I transferred your mind and put myself in your body, I inadvertently made contact with your soul as well. Your purest Blackjackness. I don’t know how you survive so. The drive for redemption is so strong that it burns. Your craving for physical pleasures to distract you from your own depression would be heartbreaking if we weren’t so at odds. Your devotion to your friends... your need to save others... your...” She shivered and hugged herself. “It’s far easier to have no soul than yours. To have a clarity of thought and drive...” She shook her head.
Somber... Here's a rule to keep in mind : making one of your villain say how in awe they are of the prowess of your protagonist and in the same say that your character is objectively hating themselves on such a level that shocks them is a bad idea. It looks a lot like you're using your villains to praise your characters and it reduces any sort of impact it can have.
Here's another concept I could discuss in a side Blogpost if you wanted : the concept of "Pain as currency", the concept that the more you make your character suffer, the more you can allow yourself to go overboard and essentially "buy" your reader's lenience.
Next we learn that Horizons was a Moon Cannon build in secret with mechasprites and whose goal is to be a giant RESET button. Big Moonstone on Big StarMetal to destroy the world. That was GB's plan but Cognitum wants to use it so that the Moonstone could be stopped before touching the Metal and be consumed to recreate all of Equestria. Oh, and the missile is called Tom because we need a reference that makes no sense. Why would GB call the missile Tom ? MLP reference for the sake of a wink are tiresome. Even PH can't escape that.
Then we have an Evil "Let's kill people until give me the password" and she kills only characters that are so unimportant I had forgotten they existed, aside from Rover. With our luck, they aren't dead but just very wounded because PH just loves the "if you don't see the body, they are alive" trope so much.
So what could be next, I mean...
The word was typed in, and suddenly the air filled with the dazzling magical patterns once more. “I knew you could do it,” Cognitum purred. “It’s your special talent.”
“My what?” I asked with a frown.
“Victory. Your talent is winning,” Cognitum said as she looked at my flanks almost hungrily. “Poor Deus. Sanguine. Even you, Steel Rain. You were facing a mare whose very talent is overcoming adversity, no matter its form.”
“My talent is victory? Do you have any idea how many times I’ve been shot up? How many times I’ve died?” I demanded, then blinked. “I mean, sure, I got better, but I haven’t had it remotely easy.”
“Victory isn’t easy. It has a cost. Always. But you are always able to pay that cost. Perhaps you don’t like it. Perhaps you even hate it. But victory is branded on your flanks for all to see. A winning pair, impossible to beat in the game of Blackjack.” She smiled as if she’d just hit the jackpot herself.
...
...
Is this a parody of an actual fiction ? Blackjack's special talent is winning ? Blackjack's cutie mark represents utter victory ? What ? You mean that we reach that level of Mary Sue ? Her destiny/special talent/calling in life is to win against all odds ? I am utterly... baffled by what I'm reading. In all my years of reading fanfiction did I meet someone who dared to make this parody-level special talent. It's as if Somber just accepted BJ was a Mary Sue and gave her the special talent that would be the more emblematic, the more on the nose aspect of a Mary Sue. I don't know what to say. It doesn't appear to be a joke and it's even so much of an asset that Cognitum actually stole her CM because she wants it for herself...
Should I consider that Cognitum is utterly loopy to try and keep my sanity but seeing at how she acted so far, I can't even fall back on that so I'm boned. Blackjack's cutie mark is Victory. If that is so, let me quote a friend :
"So, if victory is certain, should I stop reading ? Because the whole source of interest now is to see how much she'll pain for her win, not to see her win."
It is insulting to read and honestly, the fact that all the editors let something so blatantly bad stay in the final, revamped version of Project Horizons feels shameful. This reveal directly makes BJ a lesser character and I really think that this kind of childish reveal should have been removed entirely from the finished product.
Discord then arrives and makes sure to save BJ but also fuse the real soul of Luna with Cognitum for some reason. We also learn that both the Remnants through The Legate (Amadi) and Steel Rain serve Cognitum but actually no, they are going to betray her and each other. Steel Rain just wants to take over the world and Amadi the Starkatteri just meddles with everything to bring about the resurrection of the Eater of Souls... Betrayal upon betrayal and honestly, I have a hard time caring.
The chapter ends on Horizons activating because GB put himself as the AI of Horizons and when he recognizes Luna, he calls her a Tyrant and activates the Moon Cannon whose fortunately not in line with Equestria yet. Oh, and Discord, he died. Or appeared to die, knowing Somber, he'll be back.
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I'm going to skip over a lot of things to make this BP not grow exponentially : Dawn, Snips and Charm saves BJ's life and put the memory of BJ back in her mind through Charm who apparently was a recipient for them (don't ask questions, the level of convoluted makes it very hard for me to care.) Amadi and Steel Rain fight and Steel Rain is made a bitch in front of Mr "I am X000 year old".
In the process of reviving BJ, Snips definitely dies, Dawn dies, Sweetie fuckbot sans Luna dies, Sanguine dies and Horse dies. BJ fights against Steel Rain that just has been ridiculed and ridden of any sort of dignity and is killed by BJ with her removing her necklace and letting him die through Enervation. She saves Charm but not by a lot.
Then she finds a portal to the Shadow world in the office of GB and just gets teleported there with Charm and she meets Psychoshy and Stygius in an orgy. It's as stupid as you can imagine. We learn that she's in Nightmare Castle in a dimension separated to the normal one like the Light/Shadow world in The Legend of Zelda and that the batponies are so inbred the King Hades (sigh) and the Queen Persephone (Sigh²) are half-brother and half-sister and so they need orgies with other races to avoid genetic death.
BJ wants to leave but the King is a stubborn stallion and doesn't want that because he is an isolationist. We also meet the Soul of Luna that just spills her whole life story to BJ : She worked with GB for 5 years at the O.I.A in total cooperation and when GB wanted to resign she blackmailed him into staying. Somber is really try harding to make GB the poor martyr manipulated. It doesn't work. Also... GB and Luna fucked a lot in the dream world and it's one of those instances of dream fucking that lead to GB sleep talking the name of Luna and making Fluttershy have her miscarriage.
Yes, it's even worse than what I thought. Fluttershy had a miscarriage from a wet dream and a name said during his slumber. It can't get any dumber.
After the blackmail, GB acted secretly behind Luna's back and created Gardens and Horizons and we learn that GB is actually still alive in the Nightmare Castle.
...
Okay it CAN get dumber.
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BJ saves Princess Tenebra from a monster after saying how frustrated she is and is led by Miss Persephone to the cell of GB that is obviously guarded by a very gimmicky set of conditions. Mister GB was entumbed at his own request in a very specific manner that is so over the top stupid, I have a headache thinking about it.
You have to watch three memory orbs with passwords and answer three questions to be allowed to access the cell to decide how to execute GB. The first orb is the Littlehorn accident where we learn that Amadi caused Littlehorn on his own by infiltrating the place and starting the Pink Cloud Talisman. Apparently, GB feels very guilty about the event because he feels like he could have stopped it... somehow. He feels like it's his fault that ponies thinks it was a zebra attack and not a single rogue individual acting for a star cult.
The second orb is about Twilight mourning Big Mac without knowing why and it's the first time that GB is showed in a pathetic light where Twilight actually has the upper hand. It's 1.5M words too late buddy but at least it's there. It talks about the creation of the Gardens but also of the idea of the creation of Horizons. Gardens if Equestria lost. Horizons if Equestria won and Luna became a tyrant. Essentially showing the dichotomy between loving the Equestria of his childhood or the Luna that was altering it.
The third orb is about a meeting with Pinkie where he realizes that he created Horizons under the influence of the Eater of Souls and he become mad after that. It's an orb to make us feel sad for him : controlled by Luna on one side, controlled by the Eater of Souls on the other side. It's an attempt to severely reduced his own actions. Not forgive them but clearly make the readers think of him as a poor soul rather than the utter piece of shit that he was and still is.
Then we see the public execution of GB which isn't one. He is burned and teleported to the Canterlot treasury, he sees the Matriarch becoming a Pink Cloud generator and he assists to the destruction of Canterlot and he is also immune to the Pink Cloud after having been exposed to it in Littlehorn (yes, we're at that level). Then, he tries to go back to Fluttershy, meets Rarity and meets the Princesses that have of course a teleportation spell to spare for the traitor that he is. In the end, Fluttershy ignores him and he is carried to the Shadow World.
Then BJ meets GB and honestly ? It's one of the most pathetic meeting I could see. BJ talking down to someone who is supposed to be this smart and cunning mastermind like he is a petulant child should make me happy but honestly a Gary Stu being scolded by a Mary Sue seems like a competition of pot calling the kettle black.
“Oh for the love of...” I muttered. “Yes. You did bad things. Really bad things. So have I. In some ways, worse things than you. No pony’s perfect. The difference is, I haven’t shoved myself into a computer waiting for somepony else to come along and put me down.” And construct ridiculously elaborate death traps to test their worthiness to execute me. I pointed a hoof off to the side. “I’m out there, trying to do better.”
They even are making a pain-measuring contest to see who's the worse and honestly it is ridiculous, especially when BJ becomes fucking sanctimonious and actually succeeds in making BJ accepts to help her.
BJ is supposed to have evolved since she evolved from punishing herself to actually trying to do better. However, she treats her mistakes like small pebbles on the road that she dismiss with a shrug and honestly, it feels completely empty to me. She tries to say that trying is what counts but didn't I already say that she should be... crushed by how much bad she did for NOTHING more than empty curiosity ? In any case, so much for building GB as an actual smart character that gets talked down by BJ and actually beaten by her. She wants so much to be forgiven that she offers second chances to the most wretched of people and downplays HARD their actions.
I think Blackjack and Somber misunderstands the importance of punition. Punishment isn't about feeling good for making the bad guy suffer. It's to create a system where rules define what you can do from a moral and legal perspective. BJ's hypocritical view on murder makes it insanely hard to not see her "I'm not an executioner" line as anything but a self-serving delusion.
Rehabilitative justice has a component that BJ neglects : this justice works on a two-parties consent. You can't force it on people and she does that all the time. Instead of making them WORK for their second chance, she simply let them live and hope they'll get nice. It's a self-serving ideology because the narrative makes it so her optimist is actually right most of the time.
A sad thing really.
Closing thoughts : PH has reached potato level.
For me these were the chapters that really illustrated the biggest shortcoming of the entire story. The fact that it was being put together by a group that was all wanting to do their own things in the story. Up to this point I get the feeling that somehow things were largely kept under tabs to a degree but once these chapters hit things got exceptionally silly as you put it. For the record I felt it reached potato before this point.
As for why BJ isn't impacted by Enervation I think it tells you in an upcoming chapter or hinted at it way in the past. To avoid potential spoilers I won't say. If I am wrong though what I have to say would spoil what happens later so either way, sorry.
I'm going to skip to two other things that really got to me. Not that the rest didn't to some degree but these two really overshadowed the rest for me.
First BJ's talent being winning. Really? I though that was convoluted nonsense when I read that. Also if that were true then explain how BJ wins against stupidly impossible odds without her talent not long after. That told me one of three things. Either that was just a pretty speech that wasn't well done, someone is missing what it means to lose a talent, ability, what have you or her talent isn't tied to her cutie mark making the entire segment thereof a wasted moment filled with little to no substance as an attempt to build drama.
Second is the entire GB moment. There was some potential for an interesting moment but it immediately got killed via the orbs (I get what your trying to do here but there are tremendously better ways to do it) and it never got better from there and arguably got worse. While the Cognitum reveal was a big hit GB's moment was worse for me simply due to how much more ridiculous it was. Cognitum's reveal, while a flop, wasn't near as butchered a moment as the meeting with GB.
But wait there is more so tune in next time to see spoilers.
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You think the editors meddled too hard into the story making it this jumble mess ? It's possible but I have no way to be sure of that since I don't know what would be the result of an editor and not the result of an idea from Somber. Can you elaborate a bit on that part ?
I actually finished the story by now, the BPs are coming for those last ten chapters, don't you worry. Unfortunately, the explanation is ridiculous and doesn't resolve my issue at all. If the Moonstone heart is what make her immune to the Stupidly high enervation of the Core, how come she is influenced AT ALL when she goes into Roseluck Pesticids for example ? Besides, if the Moonstone at the end get turned into dust, why is her heart not influenced by that ? The Eater of Souls is a fucking Eldritch creature that has an aura so powerful it actually melts every living tissues. It makes no sense for the end to have happened as it did. Besides, if the Moonstone Heart is what protected cyborg BJ, what protected Blank BJ ? What, are we supposed to understand that somehow, the Blanks are immune to Enervation too ? How convenient.
Even at the end of the story when the "Spirit of the Wasteland" (my god, I'll need to rant on that aspect) tries to explain her talent in more details, it's even stupider. Her talent seems to be winning through the sacrifice of others. She always win but by sacrificing a lot essentially but as you said, I see no difference between BJ with a CM and BJ without one. If her special talent was winning through sacrificing, then why does Cognitum get killed off at all ? This drama was ridiculous, poorly done and I'll even go as far as to say it's shameful because it is COMPLETELY UNNEEDED. The story doesn't gain anything with this revelation. As a friend tell me, why just not say that her talent is "gambling" ? Risking things against impossible odds ? A risk taker ? It was fine to be left to the imagination but now it's etched in stone.
The entire GB moment is utterly ridiculous. Especially with GB just... giving him a second chance because you know "he was manipulated by Luna and the Eater of Souls, so even though he is an asshole, he is also a victim !".
Fuck. That.
He is not a victim, he is a Gary Stu that Somber desperately try to save by saying he is more of a martyr than everyone combined. It's tiresome, pretentious and incredibly redundant to even see HIM get a chance at doing better because BJ treats her meddling as nothing more than a mistake on par with everything else. False equivalencies for the win.
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One of the later things said in the tidbits at the end of the chapters mentioned something to the effect of how they were all basically adding their own bits into the story itself. Thus the impression I got was Somber was more the lead story creator and the ending was everyone pitching in their own things into the story rather than them just editing the story.
I was avoiding spoilers for those that hadn't read PH or that simply didn't want to jump ahead but you killed that with the moonstone heart reveal. Oh well. I never claimed it was one that was going to make sense. I think the majority of the ending was a rush job to just finish the story. At the very least the ending completely breaks continuity with that exact issue because as you point out BJ had issues when in Roseluck. Unless BJ got a moonstone from one of those that was helping her its another case of plot armor that just fills this story. The fight with the Eater of Souls was just a massive what the buck that I just can't make any logical sense of. Also I got the impression that blanks were immune to Enervation because plot armor before BJ got into her blank body.
If you do rant on the Spirit of the Wasteland go for broke please. I was a wee bit disappointed with your BJesus rant. It seemed a bit held back and it the BJesus thing was an easy obvious go to.
As I said I thought the GB moment was butchered. It wasn't a clean butcher either. It was extremely messy and just really bad. Going into it I had ideas into what I could be expecting and I would argue readers should have been expecting. I should have known better based upon the story before that I admit but by the end of the scene the only response I had was what the fuck. In fact that was along the lines of my responses to most of the chapters BJesus revival and on.
4983923
No need to be spoiler free this late in the game. I really doubt people that don't know PH in its entirety are reading, so do not worry about that. As for the spirit of the Wasteland, I am not going to make a jokey rant. I am going to be extremely serious about it because that's a cope out on Somber's part. He tries to have his cake and eat it. After humiliating the Dealer by making it the persona of a nerdy Marauder, he tries to go back on what I was thinking the Dealer was : the manifestation of the Wasteland.
It's nothing interesting, it's not cleverly done, it's put there at the last minute as if to try and cover his ass. I don't understand that choice then again, the last part of PH is mind-boggingly bad in how over the top it gets and how... confusing it is, especially about the F.A.D.E shields that protects the Core. I genuinely barely understood Glory's plan or how she even conceived it.
Also... do I need to talk about the pedo scene ? I think I don't but I will in my BP as I'm sure you expect.
4983932
To be honest I never saw the Dealer as a manifestation of the wasteland. At first I though it was an AI that may have been either a part of the EC program or related to it in some way. However once that was revealed to be a Marauder trapped Dealer died to me as well. That was just a major let down. How did the actions before that make any sense? Why be cryptic, vague, letting BJ take her time, et cetera? If you want your body back and to live be direct and get BJ to it as fast as you can in a way most beneficial to yourself as possible. Again another instance of lack of planning of the story and just writing if from the hip without any checking to make sure that there were no conflicts with the story prior. Never mind that, if I recall correctly, he was effectively on a timer to deliver the program was he not as he was degrading over time as the dealer entity? I do look forward to that rant if it isn't a joking one. It shouldn't be.
I might be able to give a crack at the F.A.D.E. shields but I think it more appropriate to wait until that topic comes around.
Unfortunately I think you do even though I'd rather you didn't myself but it can't be ignored or looked over. Like a lot in this story its very poorly done, done with no purpose outside of shock value and thus has no meaning making it very poor taste to say the least. There are great books with that in them but there was a real purpose to it that made it appropriate. Doing it for shock and awe is distasteful, disgusting, insulting and unacceptable.
4983951
You can imagine whatever you wanted for the Dealer but I am sure that no one wanted him to be a nerd projecting his RP character to appear all cool while being super cryptic and being so soulless that he was parroting GB's own opinion and... he also seemingly hated Luna even though he accepted to be trapped in EC-1101 (Did you noticed that Echo looks like EC1101 ? When someone pointed it out to me, I think I just died inside) to be forgiven for having helped GB. Yes, he was on a timer but the time aspect of that always was... arbitrary : he survived for 200 years but suddenly he started fading without so much as a warning.
The fact that the Dealer was working with Cognitum from the beginning is incredibly retarded but I'll try to discuss that later.
This very scene destroyed the character of Bastard for me. He was a cool anti-hero kind of dude but one of his most notable action is to fuck Scotch Tape just because she asked and she needed it ? What kind of fucking creep does that ? I don't want to throw insults at people but that kind of needless pedophilia seems to me like the expression of darker desires than just shock value. It wasn't the first time that Somber just decided to talk about BJ peeping on Scotch masturbating or Scotch fucking in 99 when she is like... 14/15 to Somber's own admission.
4983953
Yes I noticed that Echo and EC1101 look similar. Want another interesting twist? The 3rd through 6th numbers for H and O in binary is 1101. Coincidental or not? I find it hard to buy as coincidental as they aren't the only letters with such. I don't care either way personally. Yes the timer is arbitrary for what you say but with it being added late into the events it was another pointless attempt at adding drama that didn't make sense especially once you look at the behavior of the dealer earlier in the story.
I agree but not only do I want to not throw insults seeing as how the editors were seemingly writing parts of the story themselves I couldn't fairly say it was Somber and the editors just let it go. While I think all of them should take some responsibility for that even being posted when it never should have we don't know who is the one that perpetrated it. Thus I don't think we can fairly do much more than analyze it in an artistic sense, see that it isn't appropriate and say that someone is messed up and the rest of them let that leak out into the story published when it never should have. If somehow that isn't the case then that is an exceptionally grotesque and desperate attempt at getting some kind of shock reaction.
4984031
I agree with your assessment. My BPs will be a bit late, I can try to write one tomorrow for chapter 68 to 72 but with the holidays approaching, I'll need to find a moment to do it. In any case, don't worry, even after the recaps are finished, I think I'll have some materials to discuss the most controversial parts of PH on top of making a general assessment of the fiction. I'm not really done yet with this beast of a fiction.
PH has done it again. It's escalated the absurdity to the far edge of the stratosphere!