Comatose

11 Steelheart 9 Firefight 11 Nightwielder 11 Conflux 11 Instabam 10 The Pink Pinkness 4 Mitosis - Wasn't crazy about Mitosis... 4 Regalia 13 Obliteration 11 Newton 14 Dawnslight 5 Night's Sorrow 11 Prof Also, I think what Redbird did wrong a few posts back was not add in their hurt/heal, and adding in mine, after I had already added them in. As such, I think even after the adjustment, my votes were counted twice (+1 for Regalia, and -1 for Mitosis, since Redbird only added an extra -1). I didn't adjust them here, because I figured people have already relied on the old values, and figured we could just go from there, but if the next poster wants to adjust (after checking my math) feel free.

I know the OP in that thread admitted to being overly dramatic, but the whole "Pony Invasion" seems kind of presumptuous to me, especially since Twi and Kobold (the two named in the post) have both been here longer. The term "Invasion" implies the forced arrival of some person who is not welcome, which seems problematic on a board with an open door policy like 17th Shard. I'm glad you guys are such good sports about it, but it definitely makes me uncomfortable when people get called out like that. The OP also doesn't really distinguish between post count or rep, or acknowledge that the two can go hand in hand. Kobold (because you are easy to use as an example) has crazy rep, but he also has an amazing post count, and is active on many different areas of the site. The fact of the matter is, it can be hard to earn rep if you are just posting in the theory threads, because there rep is usually given out more for the merit of the theory or the soundness of the logic. But, if you get involved in the rest of the community (particularly segments with lots of ponies ), rep is given out based on different criteria such as the humour of a post, or quality of the writing in the case of the RP. Kobold and Twi are both great writers who are really active in the community, so I strongly dislike the implication by the OP that their rep or post count doesn't make sense solely because their avatars have ponies. Ah well, the thread has turned into an interesting discussion regardless, so I suppose I shouldn't hold too much of a grudge. That wouldn't be very admin-ish of me, after all. I'm interested to see if the OP will respond or what will be said future. I also love that Peter himself jumped in with a pony video .

To start things off Orlion, I would like to say this is more of a reaction to your post, than an argument against it. I'm not assuming you disagree with any of my points. I found your post very interesting, and these are simply the thoughts it brought up. EDIT: And for the record, I didn't find your post condescending at all, and that you were very self aware of your own bias, so great work! I agree with most of your argument, especially your point that different things serve different purposes, and the importance of having varied interests. I also acknowledge that from a strict craft perspective, it is possible to compare two works and determine which is more finely crafted, though I would clarify that this is only possible on an aspect by aspect analysis. I can say that the prose in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is more beautiful than anything Brandon has written, but that neglects the many other aspects of story-telling. Brandon is not going for beautiful prose, he prefers transparent prose that let's the reader directly into the story, an effect that has a beauty of its own in my opinion. He's also excellent at pacing, for example, so that would have to be a separate comparison. There are many things that literary classics do better than genre fiction or brightly colored cartoons, but there are many things they cannot do (as you pointed out). I just think it is problematic to privilege one form of excellence over others. I've read many finely crafted novels that haven't created the emotional resonance that Avatar: The Last Airbender has managed to create. Part of that is medium of course, television and music are generally better and connecting with people's emotions than prose, but the other part, like you said, is explaining that they do different things. If you really want to hear a rant on this topic, ask me about how it feels when my Dad, who watches sports all day, says I'm wasting my time watching a 'silly cartoon,' like Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nothing against watching sports, like you point out, it's good to have varied interests, but its troubling when someone who has little knowledge or familiarity with an area disparages it, especially when they are not questioning the narrow scope of their own interest base. Basically I'm just agreeing with you from a slightly different angle, haha. The one point where diverge I think is in your use of the word "childish". I know it has been used elsewhere in the thread, and that you likely weren't intending to disparage children, but it kind of bothers me when people assume that something is made for children is automatically of lesser value, and that the consumption of something that is childish by adults is something shameful that needs to be legitimized by other criteria. Why is being child-like a bad thing? Further more, if our assumption is that children's content is of lesser quality, where are the efforts to provide better quality programming for our children? One thing I like about MLP actually, is that it usually shies away from dumbing down its content or talking down to its audience. The highly educated Twilight Sparkle has the same vocabulary she would if she was in an adult television show. Instead of dumbing her down to the level adults think children should be understanding, the creators have characters with less refined vocabularies (such as Spike) ask Twilight to rephrase. As someone who believes children are smarter than adults give them credit for, I love when shows and books bring their audiences up with them, instead of dumbing things down. Another good example I enjoyed was the short novel, Everything on a Waffle. It's a middle readers book, but it's probably one of the most well put together pieces of fiction I have ever read. It's definitely silly, but during the book the author takes her readers through many different forms of grief and emotional trauma, without sheltering her potentially young readers from the sting of these powerful emotions. It works on more thematic and constructive levels than many literary texts I have read. When I have kids, I want to find content we can watch together. Don't get me wrong, it's good for kids to develop their own interest, and I'm certain that there will be shows they want to watch that I could care less for or will perceive to be of a lesser quality than what I choose to watch myself, but I do think our society as a whole needs to seriously re-frame how we talk about youth and childishness, especially when attaching a negative connotation or equating "childish" with "simple" or "uncomplicated."

But Rainmaker can affect temperature, so she should be able to lower the temperature of the non-moving layer of air. Even though no heat is entering or leaving it, if Rainmaker changes the temperature of a whole area, including the non-moving part, it would stay cold, wouldn't it? I get that the wind would not affect Converter's temperature, but should the cold air temperature still have an affect on her? Even if her insulation does protect her, she's still breathing in frigid air, so wouldn't she need to expend some energy to keep warm? The hailstone is getting annoying anyways, so maybe just edit it so that the wind isn't a vortex. The winds aren't strong enough to pick up a hail stone of this size, so as long as Converter puts enough kinetic energy into it, it should be able to get through (physics buffs, please correct me if I am wrong).

That makes sense... The only descriptor I remember using is "Gale Force". A quick wikipedia search tells me this would be an 8 - 10 on the Beufort Scale, or 61.8 - 102.4 km per hour. Level 8 "Fresh Gale" - Some twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road. Progress on foot is seriously impeded. Level 9 "Strong Gale" - Some branches break off trees, and some small trees blow over. Construction/temporary signs and barricades blow over. Level 10 "Storm, Whole Gale" - Trees are broken off or uprooted, structural damage likely. From these descriptions, and reviewing the post, I'm guessing only Level 10 would be strong enough to send the "bus-sized" hail stone back (learn something new every day). Since Rainmaker is holding pretty much nothing back, I'll say it's level 10. Any word on how Converter's power interacts with non-moving cold air? EDIT: Reading more, I have found that in Canada and the US, only level 8 or 9 winds are referred to as Gales, meaning the hail stone would likely be able to get through the wind? Also, for those who are curious, The Beaufort Scale.

Is this how I play? I've never done one of these before! 10 Steelheart 9 Firefight 11 Nightwielder 10 Conflux 1 Fortuity 10 Instabam 10 The Pink Pinkness 10 Mitosis 8 Regalia 10 Obliteration 11 Newton 15 Dawnslight 10 Night's Sorrow 11 Prof

I like the post Silver, but I found one error (which might be my fault for not explaining properly). Rainmaker's winds are not forming a vortex at the moment. They are all blowing in towards Converter (now without actually reaching her since that last alteration). This means that, as soon as the hail stone reached the point where the winds were still blowing (which it would immediately, given its size), it would be pushed back and held in position on top of Converter. Does that make sense? Also, what are Converter's energy levels at? She used up all her energy in the electrical attack earlier, and since then she has absorbed kinetic energy from the falling hail stone, and the initial winds. Now, I'm assuming she's used some of the energy to try to get rid of the hailstone, and some to keep herself warm in the freezing temperatures (still not sure how she insulates herself when the temperature of air that is not moving is lowered), so correct me if I'm wrong at that point, and let me know approximately how much energy you feel she is left with. EDIT: Also, I am now on MLP Season 4 and am LOVING the animation upgrade. The way they do lighting now is beautiful, and I loved the flashback sequences .

I really like this discussion, because its one that comes up in Arts classes all the time, which essentially boils down to the distinction between high and low brow works of art. Can top 40 pop music be considered legitimate artistic expression? Can genre fiction (which includes Fantasy like Brandon Sanderson's) be considred 'true' literature? Is the enjoyment of a show apparently funded by Hasbro for the purpose of selling pony figurines legitimate? Personally, I think the answer to all of these questions is a resounding 'yes'. But, there have been numerous times in the Academic world where my choice to write about Fantasy novels was questioned, or my subject matter was seen as a 'lesser' art form due to its inherently escapist nature, and not worthy of academic study. My partner, who loves pop music and has studied it extensively, has had similar troubles in his classes as he tries to explain to people why music that listened to regularly on any radio station is worthy of study and respect. Here, we are dealing with an interesting perceived sub-division within fantasy, between Brandon Sanderson's works, which are seen by some as more weighty and legitimate, and MLP, which is seems to have a reputation for being silly and frivolous (which it definitely is at times ). At the end of the day, the number of people who enjoy something, how much time went into making it, the number of collaborators responsible for creating it, or the overall objective value society perceives something as having is largely irrelevant. Art is subjective, meaning each person can decide for themselves the value something holds. Just because one person loves Brandon Sanderson and detest MLP, does not mean another person cannot enjoy both. Personally, I just started watching MLP this year, but it has intrigued me for much longer than that. Since getting involved with WHIO, I quickly realized that if I was going to get ANY of the inside jokes, watching the show was a must, and so after checking out a few clips on youtube and deciding it was worth my time, I dove in. What do I like about My Little Pony? Why do I enjoy it more than some of the 'High-Brow' literature I took during my English Degree? I can certainly come up with some reasons, but at the end of the day, the justification doesn't matter. I like it because I do, and someone else taking stabs at its legitimacy as an enjoyable artistic expression is not going to change that. I recently (as in yesterday) had some friends randomly decide to show up at my house while my partner and I were watching My Little Pony, and I admit I was embarrassed. They all wanted to hang out together, but after a weekend full of socializing, I was ready to just relax with some television. When I said I'd rather watch MLP with my partner in my room than eat Hummus and watch Friends, my roommate (who is also a MLP fan) said we could all watch MLP together instead. This made me cringe, and the experience was not enjoyable. As we started watching the first episode, my roommate repeatedly laughed too hard at the jokes, pointing out 'how funny' it was to our guests, who were clearly not enjoying themselves. I realized that for me, there was no need for my friends to see my enjoyment of the show as legitimate. I was fine with the fact that they saw it as silly, as long as they could respect the fact that I saw it differently. While I was flattered that they gave it a chance, it was stressful for me to watch someone try to defend a show that I feel needs no defense. My Little Pony has something that some fans respond to, and some don't. The fact that people have different opinions on something does not make it bad or good. I was happy to watch MLP alone with my partner, since I know both of us enjoy it for what it is, flaws and all, but I'm not going to go around forcing others to acknowledge how great it is, because they are entitled to their opinion. Sorry if that was off topic. I just found it interesting that I had a recent personal experience that I felt was relevant. Anyways, that's my two cents! I'm glad to continue the discussion though. The perception of legitimacy in different art forms is a fascinating topic for me, so I'm always happy to discuss further.

That is the best song! I've been singing it like all week haha. Love the Chase post Winter!

In one of the later seasons of Buffy, one of the characters accidentally summons a demon who forces the whole town to sing about their feelings, giving birth to one of the greatest musical episodes ever. It also includes a woman singing about her parking ticket EDIT: Also, thinking about my old writing forced me to look up and start reading my old novel. I still love the characters and mythology, but the plotting is incredibly busy, with too much happening at once, and forced in places. It was 196 pages though, which is probably the longest thing I've ever written, unless you count all of my MBI posts combined.

Nothing particular, since she can change it at will. I could find a picture if you want, but I'm good with what ever. I also always write papers as I go. Sometimes I'll do a short outline, basically just saying what I what to talk about in a paper, but then I usually end up throwing out the last half. Realizing I was a discovery writer really revolutionized how I write. The last time I tried writing a novel, I got pretty far, but wrote myself into a hole I couldn't get out of. I had a situation where I needed a confrontation/battle to happen, but for all characters to escape so they could meet up later on. But when I wrote through the fight, the one side (which belonged to the Antagonist) had the other side way outmatched, and I couldn't find a way for any of my characters to escape him, and he was not letting them go.

Apparently you can't use the multi-quote function in locked threads. Corvallis is indeed nearing the end of its first day, so it should be synced nicely with the other threads. I'm also a discovery writer. I think it's why I love RPs like this so much, and why I am bad at plottery (pesky characters always do something different than what I originally planned). Personally, I prefer this commercial, in which Taylor Swift reveals a hidden secondary power.

All looks good to me!

Stay tuned for Taylor Swift's first come-back album post-calamity: What Happened in Oregon. EDIT: Featuring hit singles: (1) I guess YOU had a Death Wish, (2) The Night You Hounded Me No More, (3) Love and a Numbers Man, and (4) I knew you were Hypnotizing me, but I just didn't care.

Rainmaker and Co. are pretty busy at the moment focused on Converter, but maybe after they've subdued her they could deal with Phoenix? I'm not really sure how what Phoenix is doing though that would warrant them checking him out, since he's just walking around acting like a normal person (haven't checked the thread in the last few hours, so if you've posted again recently I stand corrected). The Chase thing could work since she's less involved, but you'd have to talk to Winter about that. Jasnah is actually one of my favorite characters, but because of her flaws, not in spite of them. I don't mind Dalinar, but I HATE reading about Kaladin. For some reason his viewpoints drove me nuts! I'd prefer Shallan, Jasnah, or Adolin any day. Kaladin was definitely my least favourite character in the book, which is why I have trouble rereading WoK. I fully acknowledge this is all personal preference, and has nothing to do with his overall quality as a character. WoR Spoilers (sorry Twi)

I don't remember the specifics, but I think one of the main characters is a Fathvell.

One of the families we made up for MBI was included in the video game apparently, so obscure references in related works could be possible, but likely no overt character cameos. Now I'm thinking about an X-Men Mutant Academy/Mortal Kombat style Reckoners Game and am loving it.

Link plz.

Oh I see it. Take your time, I'm busy with work anyways. Just thought I'd check in. Depending on how Taylor and Glamour hit it off, how would we feel about them attempting to stage a coup or something in The Dalles? I think Taylor's getting tired of living life on the road, and between her and Glamour's powers, they could come up with some pretty neat deceptions I'd think. It also might be fun to see her begin to bring out Glamour's darker side. Not sure what you intended for the character though, these are just ideas I'm running with off the top of my head. I would like her to abandon Brandon though, because that's too much fun to pass up.

I'm loving the contrast between Impact using her powers and MV not using hers. It really shows how differently they are developing. Also, the fight scene is, of course, wicked awesome. Kobold, can I expect a Glamour post any time soon? I'm really excited to get going with T-Swift. Let me know if you want to plot something. Also, the poor Financier! So glad Brightdeath managed to cheer him up.

It actually makes sense that it would be Discord, since Ruin would want to place his own champion in the position of hero if possible. This would be a key change that Ruin could use to totally shift how the prophecy is interpreted so it makes sense that it was changed. Good catch though that Discord is an opposite to Harmony. I hadn't thought of the two together before.

Or perhaps they have two different cool-down periods, meaning he can automatically teleport away when his PI is triggered, wait two minutes, teleport back wilfully, but be ready to use his PI again.

Perhaps he was recruiting Worldhoppers? No, wait, that's the 17th Shard... I think he had an interest in seeing AonDor restored. It's one of the most (if not the most) versatile magic systems in the Cosmere. If Hoid could find some way around the regional ties, it could be very useful to him to have people who can use AonDor running around. He also might be looking for ways to "unshatter" Dominion and Devotion, but that's just speculation. There's also the matter of the Moon Scepter. I'm VERY curious to see why Hoid needed that.

I should have said "functions like" instead of "functions as a prime invincibility." All I meant to say is that he's invincible when he wants to be, but does not function all the time. I am thinking of removing his ability to affect the flow of time relative to real time, since it feels a tad over-powered to me, but I'll keep playing around with the idea. I love the idea. I'm all for more male ballet dancers, haha. Sounds good to me! I don't know about the twins. I'm still reworking them, probably making them much less well-resourced, and more down on their luck. The problem is I'd like space for Daerra's ambition to come out, so I'm still figuring out how to make that work. I also toyed with the idea of making one of them a minor epic, but didn't like the idea of how it would change their personalities. As of now, I think I'll leave them for the time being, especially since Taylor Swift is busy again in the Dalles. Also, T-Swift post