State of the Muses: May 2013

[gorepasa]

character: Aang (savedtheworld) series: Avatar: The Last Airbender tagging priority: ■■■■□: His tags can be the easiest, but he also has the most which can inspire laziness. He's also been slowed down by working through castmate stuff, but with the Sokka plot starting to move forward maybe things will be better. muse strength: ■■■■□: Seems solid as ever. Sometimes I'm not sure if he should be more broken or not by this point, but Aang's a strong trooper. cast strength: ■■■■□: Super-strong! Now with Zuko and Asami. A lot of the essentials around, and things are picking up lately. plotting capabilities: ■■■■□: Aang is easy as ever to throw around and is probably the most involved in things out of my roster. Now he has the bakery in addition to the Welcome Center and has a lot going on. In terms of player plots, it's mostly a matter of working through the Sokka plot for him. general fun level: ■■■■□: I can still have lots of wacky fun with him! Just occasionally drained a bit from the darker plot things of the last few months. likelihood of drop: □□□□□: He's still good to stay.

character: Rock Lee (niceguypose) series: Naruto tagging priority: ■■■■■: The update actually made him suffer a bit (well aside from in the literal sense) since I had trouble braining his state of mind, but it's been easier as time's gone by. This muse has been very wound up especially by Gai's arrival. He's been the easiest for me to get through, although I've only been tagging him out so far this month. muse strength: ■■■■■: He's feeling on top of his game for the most part, especially now being played off of Gai himself. It helps me to shape Lee more clearly as well. cast strength: ■■■■■: Our Gai alone is worth three sets of five full boxes. And so many other solid arrivals this cycle, too (Naruto, Kushina, Minato and Hinata) that things are getting quite exciting, and there may be even more to look forward to next time. plotting capabilities: ■■■□□: They're there, I just have to toss him out more. I need him to get involved in more missiony stuff. Also, settle his Seventh Heaven deal. general fun level: ■■■■■: Among the most fun. likelihood of drop: □□□□□: I can't dream of it.

character: Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (wildbluevagner) series: X-Men Evolution tagging priority: ■■■□□: Sometimes he's on top, but he tends to lag behind at other times. muse strength: ■■■□□: He feels shakey at times, but some review has been helping boost things up a bit. cast strength: ■■■■□: Our Evo cast is still solid, and we're bringing in more X-Mens. X23! I'll just still keep hoping for a Kitty. plotting capabilities: ■■□□□: I haven't been utilizing him as well as I should. I have to work on getting him more draft-ready. general fun level: ■■■□□: He can be a lot of fun, even if some of it is just him being so horribly cheesy. likelihood of drop: ■□□□□: Just one of those obligatory squares - I have little nagging doubts sometimes but I'm feeling more confident lately.

character: Wreck-It Ralph (gonnawreckit) series: Wreck-It Ralph tagging priority: ■■■□□: Worrying, he barely made last AC. I've been better with him this round, but I've only been tagging out with him so far. He'll probably get a new post for the event. muse strength: ■■■□□: He feels on-and-off. I feel IC mostly, but I can't always hear my tags specifically in his voice, and sometimes I wonder if I'm overplaying parts of is personalities. cast strength: ■■■■□: Marbles' Vanellope will always be one of the best things. The absence of the other main characters is still sad. plotting capabilities: ■■□□□: He might be getting into Brave Vesperia I think? And my event idea for him seems like fun. But otherwise he's been underused. general fun level: ■■■□□: When I can get into his groove, it can be quite fun. But posts can just sometimes be draining for him. likelihood of drop: ■□□□□: A square by the virtue of being left behind the most, but I intend to get things going more with him soon. Sometimes I just have to stop and think about what I'm doing with Ralph.

character: Jade Curtiss (yourfononsarewhack) series: Tales of the Abyss tagging priority: ■■■■□: He has been fairly high priority in most cases - his tags just take longer because of the thought put into them. And some outgoing tags have an unfortunate tendency of stopping when I become uncertain of what direction for Jade to take in a thread, especially when he's just heckling or trolling in some way. muse strength: ■■■□□: I think his voice has been improving? But sometimes he still sounds off. I think it's still an evolving work in progress. cast strength: ■■■□□: It's a lovely cast that I'm proud to be a part of. I'll just always long for Keterburg bros on top of it. plotting capabilities: ■■■□□: I have been using him for plot things when I can, but I have dropped the ball in some areas. For example, the draft was a good testing ground for him to take charge, but I wound up never tagging around in it. And I put him into the Ganon log way too late for him to get any threads. general fun level: ■■■■□: When I feel like I'm getting him right, it's a remarkable, wonderful amount of fun. likelihood of drop: □□□□□: He should be sticking for the foreseeable future, and hopefully I'll continue to improve with him.

character: Mytho (soheartless) series: Princess Tutu tagging priority: ■■■■□: He hasn't had much yet, but it's been easy to go through his tags. muse strength: ■■■■□: His voice is easy because of its simplicity, but there are still some things I'm not sure of how clearly to convey, as he technically still has his memories from the series and the raven's blood infection. There will be more nuances to explore as time goes on, but for now it's smooth sailing. cast strength: ■■■■□: Duck and Rue! Just a Fakir away from a full package. plotting capabilities: ■■■■□: He has the heart shards plot which I have to work on setting into motion! But it should be super fun. general fun level: ■■■■□: It's actually quite fun to play someone so unemotive and utterly neutral about everything. And it's fun to consider his future stages as he regains heart shards. likelihood of drop: □□□□□: He's pretty much clear for now.

So, yeah. RP's good, cool, fun and stuff. I think I'm still at a whelmy place, but there are characters amongst my current roster I should be using more (Ralph and to a lesser extent Kurt can tend to fall behind the most). Mytho's still getting on his feet, but through him I do also have the heart shards plot, which is possibly the most ambitious thing I've been trying in-game, and I have to work on trying to organize it more efficiently.

Potential Apps?!

So, yeah. Considering even a seventh will go against most schools of logic and reason - I think that's the cap for Luceti at least. One recent temptation for Luceti has of course been Happy Hogan - who could conceivably be easy to fit in and his voice seems fairly easy/fun, but at the same time I worry for his sustainability, for doubling up Marvel-wise (even if they're from two different Marvel continuities, Kurt has steadily been building up MCU CR) and the threat of I don't know make a Jenga analogy or something. I might have had an impulsive urge to try Armstrong again but no, similar threat of overwhelming which would be moreso given he's an energetic muse

I'll think things over in the next month or so, but right now I'm thinking I should keep the gate closed at six for the time being. If anything, I may place one of several possibilities in Route.

Route

Route has looked increasingly tempting - Pokemon training plus all the cool peeps there (I have to accompany Bayley and Lucy to the ends of the earth apparently), and I intend to use the upcoming fourth wall as a kind of test drive of sorts. To try to control things, I'm just thinking of sending one character for now. How things go on the fourth wall may influence my decision, but so far:

character: Aang
series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
likelihood of app: ■■□□□
why i might: He's one of the easiest and most fun muses for me. Aang in a Pokemon setting seems like a good recipe for nice, light-hearted RPing fun - as well as playing Aang with a "fresh start" (just thinking about potential canon points all over again is fun). There's a cozy-sized cast there which looks potentially easy to keep up with.
why i might not: I've understood that playing the same character in multiple games could lead to muse burnout, so that's one thing to be careful of. Also, not having his powers will keep him from doing some fun daredevil hijinks, and his angst from not having his powers could overall threaten the potential fun. Also, playing a character I already play at Luceti does eliminate the potential fun from using this opportunity for someone completely new.

character: Andrew Maxwell Dwyer
series: Parks and Recreation
likelihood of app: ■■■□□
why i might: Well, Parks and Rec is a show I love, and Andy is a character who seems potentially fun and easy for me. I've already come up with some fun bits for him in the Pokemon environment. And it would be fully utilizing the potential of a second game to play someone I don't and probably won't play at Luceti.
why i might not: He'd be a lone canon warrior, although I feel he could still be fun as one. I haven't done a full review of the series in a while, and a journal would need to be set up in general.

character: Rock Lee
series: Naruto
likelihood of app: ■□□□□
why i might: Naruto has a cool Route cast! And Lee with Pokemon seems like a fun combination, and Lee's been quite steady for me lately in general. Before recent times, I wouldn't have thought of him as someone I'd be willing to play in more than one game.
why i might not: Many of the similar problems with Aang - the problems of playing the same character in two games. This is particularly troublesome for Lee because of his higher energy. Also, the large Naruto cast is both a boon and a downfall, since it seems like it could lead to things becoming overwhelming.