#chris elman

[il3x]

uhm. uhm. think I jusr had a tinker fugue

so, observation, huh? was veeery tempted to fit the simurgh in somehow but three headshots were enough.

[byronvera]

breakthrough breakin' through

[absyyynth]

why couldn't we get the reality where chris stays cool

[lemurlord]

Victoria, reading Chris's interlude, scraping her teeth in anger, adding "Stranger 1" to Amy's character sheet.

[ewingstan]

Here's at least the start of an answer.

I do like this moment. I still feel like there's more interesting things to do with Chris than have him be the one member of Breakthrough who wont change to contrast the rest of the team against*, but its a better thematic move than a lot of the messaging has been recently. And there's still room for Chris to do something interesting.

But Christ, I wish it wasn't capped with this:

There's already been a lot written about how having Amy blaming others for her actions comes at the expense of her characterization in Worm and the themes of her narrative there. I won't repeat all those arguments here, but I'll say that I'm frustrated that she's getting tied up in the "unwilling to change for the better" theme, especially like this. I don't want to hear wildbow complain about how people are too willing to blame others for their own defects. I don't think he has anything interesting to contribute to that conversation.

*And it wouldn't just be rehashes Ashley's clone blues. Having Chris' weird identity issues mix with a confrontation on whether he wants to be tied to the desires of his past self would be really cool. The conflict between what you want out of your life at different points in time is interesting to explore—especially when the past self knows that his future self might not resemble him or share his desires, and takes steps to limit his future self's options. It pulls at deep questions about what the important part of having autonomy is.

[victoriadallonfan]

Erin: "So what did you guys do for your sweet sixteen?"

Victoria: "Pretty sure I fought the giant nazi twins."

Sveta: "I was stuck in an asylum for broken powers."

Tristan: "Trial."

Byron: "Also his trial."

Rain: "Arson."

Chris: "Kidnapping."

Erin: ....

Chris: "Oh, and I went to Dave & Busters."

[witchofanguish]

really annoys me how interesting I found the interactions between Chris and the rest of the team (especially Victoria) in early Ward, and then he just kind of fucks off for the rest of the book

[glitterblossom]

Either Wildbow protagonists need to stop being so relatable, or we need to go to the therapist.

[eowynluna]

What do yall think Breakthrough's fursonas would be if they were furries?

[heyitschartic]

I do think that Kaluza, the String Theory clone, basically gets two options after she's made. The first is that the Wardens find out about her and she immediately gets arrested, an armed guard put on her at all times, and treated somewhat like Riley. Too dangerous of a person to be left running around and is basically forced to be a deterrent for a full scale invasion from Shin or Cheit. Like I said, hard to argue with the woman who can blow your moon out of the sky. She uses the free time she's allowed during crisis' to needle Chris about how he isn't even important enough for the Wardens to hold at gunpoint.

The more fun option is that she pulls the same shtick Chris is doing. She's got her second chance and she's not going to spend the rest of her new life locked away in the Wardens tower. But her power is very distinctive and incredibly limiting for trying to pretend it's something else. Only way I think she could swing it is if she starts trying to game her limitations. We know she can tinker together drones and other equipment to help her build her mega-projects, so I'm thinking she begins the incredibly delicate act of setting those projects in motion. She starts some new massive machine and uses it as a point to jump off for making gear, drones, and other equipment she can use to keep the illusion up of her being a slightly mediocre tinker. All the while, she's preparing larger schemes in the background all centered around this massive tinker tech death-ray or whatever.

She presents herself as a mediocre drone tinker with a few additions, so that when she pulls the rug out from under everyone, no one is ready to react to it.

Only problem is she's barely a teen age-wise, so she's not as good at handling everything as she likes to think she is. No matter if she finishes the project or not, it's probably all gonna explode in her face.

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

Dark Introspection is just a lil guy. has anyone drawn him as a sweet lettol ball of fluffy feathers with big wet eyes bc thats what he is. hes such a sweet tiny birdie man

[il3x]

negative space

[byronvera]

first impressions 🫢

[absyyynth]

rare chris gender moment

[lemurlord]

A missed opportunity in Ward is that Amy didn't actually remain in a relationship throughout the book. Would it have solved any problems? No, only make new ones. Would it go against some themes of the work? Mayhaps. But would it provide some delicious drama? ABSOLUTELY.

Also, the fandom would like Chris much more were he a homosexual woman, all I'm saying.

[ewingstan]

A lot of my focus right now is trying to puzzle out what the text is using Chris for at this point. What are they doing with him. Is he just here to inflame tensions or are we gonna get more of a character arc out of this. Because right now Chris has given us a great interlude and one really good story moment, but otherwise a lot of the opportunities of having him around as a character have felt squandered. Like wildbow didn't really know what to do with him. I'll hold off judgment on that until the end, but its weird that even though we learned so much about his deal by now, I still feel like I don't understand him any better than I did when he was the quiet kid in group therapy.