State of the Muses: March 2013

[gorepasa]

character: Aang (savedtheworld) series: Avatar: The Last Airbender tagging priority: ■■■■■: Aang still is pretty much on top. muse strength: ■■■■■: I think he still feels confident and solid - his voice always comes the easiest. cast strength: ■■■■□: Our little Gaang's now trudging along (along with a very likely Zuko!). And also, Korra. Bayley's Korra is a godsend, eternally threading off of her is so much fun and helps things feel more alive. plotting capabilities: ■■■■■: Aang has a lot of plotting potential from his propensity to throw himself into everything. Most of the time it's ended up playing a role in others' plots - helping with the battle against Pride!Ed, throwing Rapunzel's birthday party, etc. And now he has airbending training and I'm thinking of doing some air acolyte-y things for him in the near future. general fun level: ■■■■■: Always fun. likelihood of drop: □□□□□: A year later and still going strong.

So yeah. This month marked one year since Aang entered Luceti. And now - or rather up until the draft, he's been in an okay place emotionally. Korra's back, and that's lead to lots of fun for him and is bursting with potential. As for the draft, Aang wound up being held back this time since I had him on all the others since his arrival and I didn't want him to draw attention away from the three who are having their own first draft. Interesting things still come from it anyway - preparing Korra for the draft, worryig about all his friends who are going, and even if he won't be able to witness Sokka's qustionable actions in person, he could likely hear of it secondhand later. There's a lot of potential to work with in the near future.

character: Rock Lee (niceguypose) series: Naruto tagging priority: ■■■■□: His tags can come pretty solidly - he can often come second or third. muse strength: ■■■■□: He seems pretty fine, sometimes I'm just not sure if I'm envisioning his voice well enough. Also, I have to put thought into his mindset when he returns from his update. cast strength: ■■■■□: So much in the terms of new castmates and potential future ones. Next cycle we may finally have a Gai! Things are great, and of course there can always be more. plotting capabilities: ■■■□□: Lee's easy to get involved with things, although he hasn't had much specific recently. general fun level: ■■■■■: Lee is super fun! likelihood of drop: □□□□□: Definitely safe.

In this corner, we have Rock Lee, who's currently home for a canon update. Much of his stuff the past month has been reacting to ninja arrivals and also cleaning up the loose ends of Valentines stuff. It was a tough decision leaving him off from the draft, but with the three I was already certain on sending, Lee could have been a bit too much and didn't have much reason in particular to go aside from the presences of updated Shikamaru and Rapunzel. Instead, Lee goes to his depressing update and inadvertently misses his session with Rapunzel to prepare her for the draft. He'll be back as the draft ends, and then it will be time to deal with his mindset in that time. It's someting I still have to work out, and the angst may be difficult to play out with Lee, but it can ultimately help in giving him something to deal with in Luceti. Also again, eternally excited over the potential Gai!

character: Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler (wildbluevagner) series: X-Men Evolution tagging priority: ■■■□□: Kind of fluctatuates depending on my mood at the time. He can be near the top or near the bottom, but I think I've been covering him more consistently lately. muse strength: ■■■■□: Maybe closer to three and a half. My confidence in his voice isn't perfect, but sometimes I am pleased with it. cast strength: ■■■■□: Still the same quartet, but an awesome quartet it is. Not to mention how fun it is bouncing Kurt off of the 616 and some of the MCU characters. I'll just keep wishing for a Kitty in particular, though. plotting capabilities: ■■■□□: He has potential that hasn't really been optimally explored so far. He may need some more extracurricular Luceti activities aside from X-Men training and occasional helping out at the item shop. But he does have the draft now and that could be helpful in exploring things. general fun level: ■■■■□: He can be loads of fun - especially when he's horribly embarrassing. likelihood of drop: ■□□□□: Everyone loves getting an obligatory square.

Kurt had been kind of lingering there for a while. His voice can slip from me sometimes, although reviewing episodes is often helpful. The portal plot helped me to bring him out of a slump and have some fun with him again, and the draft could be an opportunity for future growth. I need to kind of pin down more of an emotional arc for him, and the draft can be a good starting point for that. Especially with the Dream Shifter; dealing with Mystique is one way to keep interest going. And of course, with Kurt there's also the issue of the image inducer. Recently it's gotten to the point where he feels alright with selectively skipping on wearing it, but I'm not sure about the best way to develop that specific plot. Basically, I like Kurt and he just needs some more polishing as to where he's going.

character: Wreck-It Ralph (gonnawreckit) series: Wreck-It Ralph tagging priority: ■■■□□: He has kind of been in last. I think I'm relatively good at keeping up with his recent tags, but his backtags (especially on his posts) tend to linger. muse strength: ■■■□□: Sometimes I have trouble feeling his voice, although review helps. cast strength: ■■■■□: Vanellope and Calhoun! Just a Felix away from perfection. plotting capabilities: ■■□□□: There is plenty of potential for cool plots with him, I just have to work them out more. But between the Oswald plot and the draft, there's plenty of opportunity to develpp him plot-wise in the near future. general fun level: ■■■■□: When I feel good with him, I can have lots of fun. Nothing quite as fun as him mercilessly pummeling elves last December, but somewhere in the neighborhood. likelihood of drop: ■□□□□: Another one of those obligatory squares.

Ralph has been lingering a bit, although as noted it's primarily in regards to older threads. He generally hasn't had much going on until recently - he's one of the people helping to stop Oswald and he'll be doing things in the draft, which hopefully can help to boost him as well. He's not exactly in the danger zone, but he's in a place where I feel more comfortable primarily tagging him out than giving him full posts that often. He's pretty much generally settled in Luceti and doesn't have much of an arc going on, but we'll see if he can get things rolling in the near future. There's definitely at the least lots of fun video game stuff to play around with.

character: Jade Curtiss (yourfononsarewhack) series: Tales of the Abyss tagging priority: ■■■■□: It is pretty much mood-dependent and on how easily individual tags come to me. Often he's somewhere in the top three. But it depends; some tags require more thought than others, so they can take longer to process. muse strength: ■■■□□: My confidence can fluctuate from time to time. I think one primary issue is his syntax. I think I've improved over time, but his tags often require some rereads to make sure it comes across right. I think I also have to think more on how he treats strangers, although that could differ on a case-to-case basis. I guess basically I'm still getting a feel for some aspects of him. However, I'm proud of the trolling he's been able to do so far. cast strength: ■■■■□: It's a beautiful Abyss cast and I'm glad to be a part of it. Nephry alone could be worth five boxes. plotting capabilities: ■■■■□: He has lots of potential, primarily relating to Luceti plot stuff. As long as I can pull it off well, the draft should be a very interesting opportunity for him. general fun level: ■■■■□: As I'd hoped, lots of fun. likelihood of drop: □□□□□: I don't think it's a factor at this stage.

So yeah. Jade's been doing well for me so far. It's been very interesting and fun so far, even in ways I didn't expect. He's still adjusting to Luceti and the way things are different here, so different from what he's used to back home. Even things like him finding out about his past experiences in Luceti are fun to play with, and I still have lots of ideas to eventually go through. Some time from now - perhaps after the next app cycle - I'll have him mallynapped to childhood so I could play with that version of him. In some ways I think I'm still feeling Jade out, in regards such as how he regards strangers and his levels of tact and stuff, but I think things are going well for him so far. The draft will be a true test for him as well, though, to see how well I can work with his military side.

Overall? I am loving this cycle. There's been newness to play with for a lot amount of my characters, and I appreciate the fresh blood that's been brought into the game. It's helping things to feel more energized and alive, and I'm glad that such a thing has happened during the month of my Lucetiversary. And the draft promises even more fun and potential. Of course, I'm still working through the bugs of the five character juggle. I know it has slowed me down a bit, although I don't consider it to be to the case where I should consider cutting down, at least not at this point. Everyone is either at a good place or either has the potential to be developed into a good place.

And of course apps are a no-go at this point. As tempting as the DC scene is, I think a sixth character could be a breaking point (and a second game would probably not be a thing in the near future). So I'll play out the five-person scene for now and see how that gels with me as I go on. Maybe I can work at a better balance, or maybe a cutting down would be called for. But right now, I'd say things are primarily fine. Let's keep up the good work, awesomes!