Oh Worm? (Parahumans Series)

[KanayaMaryam]

Any Worm fans here?
I only read it recently but hot damn do I have a lot of feelings about it. I don’t really have the courage to join the bigger forums for it, so I figured I’d check if anyone here knows it!

[Dream Muttman]

Worm is weirdly similar to Homestuck in a lot of ways, notably its length. It's very dark some points but I absolutely recommend it. It has a very satisfying ending.

[KanayaMaryam]

Worm is weirdly similar to Homestuck in a lot of ways, notably its length. It's very dark some points but I absolutely recommend it. It has a very satisfying ending.

Yes I was thinking the same thing!! There’s a lot of similar aspects (kids being shoved into responsibilities and roles they aren’t ready for, huge trauma, evil giant aliens who destroy worlds), though I think it’s considerably darker and less humorous than HS. The ending was incredible though! I haven’t checked out Ward yet, but I’ve heard it’s good as well.

[Dream Muttman]

If you ever decide to read Ward I recommend skipping Glow-Worm, the prologue to it. It was a set of teasers, and while fun to analyze, it spoils a lot of the surprises in the early parts of the story if you look at it too hard.

The biggest difference between Worm and Homestuck is probably the fact that the protagonist doesn't get transported to another world. The whole world is different, reshaped by the implications of superpowers and other things.

[KanayaMaryam]

Gosh yeah, the differences between Earth Aleph and Earth Bet and how the parahuman abilities basically split the two away from each other is incredibly fascinating and a very nice butterfly effect (iirc, it’s been a few months, it’s very very long and I have a crap memory).

But yeah I really hope to check Ward out! I know it covers Glory Girl as the protagonist I think, and dives into a new villain, so it should be interesting!

I do have to admit, I did almost make my username here TinMother, just as a tribute but changed my mind at the last moment lol

[Crpal]

Never read it but totally am planning to.

[RoyalFiddle]

I really really love Worm, to the point that a lot of my free time is reading Fanfics of it (Like, I think I've read almost all the even slightly good fics). Ward, however, I like a lot less, mainly due to it being more in the line of Pact and Twig, esoteric with somewhat stilted writing, matched with characterization I feel really iffy on (I genuinely loathe how Ward characterizes Amy)

It's actually inspired me a lot in my own writing, (Worm), and among my friends I'm known as the girl who knows absolutely everything about Worm

[Dream Muttman]

I'm not a big fan of Ward either, but Twig Is frankly nothing like it. I recommend you give it a shot.

Pact is a lot more similar to Worm than either Twig or Ward, with constant conflict and escalation. Twig is ruled by seasonal timeskips, so the plot ends up happening over the course of years, even though you don't feel like you missed anything.

[rookie1978]

Loved it. One of the most interesting pieces of online fiction i've read, and the best 'superhero' story to date. Wildbow's writing style is really fun to follow and he knows how to write smart characters without making them obnoxious. To be honest, I stopped reading the continuation a little while ago but i'm planning to get back into it later. I'm not very good at waiting for new updates.

Skitter's great. RIP grue. Slaughterhouse 9000 is still the best arc by far.

I very fondly remember a big discord roleplay I was in based off Worm, with all OC's. I made a villain character named King and eventually reigned over the SH9, but was killed by another character. They pretended to join the Slaugherhouse 9, and had a meeting with my character, but in reality, had a bomb and blew both of us up, toppling the building and killing the rest of the SH9. I made more interesting characters but they got killed off pretty early in events that were out of my control. I don't think i've ever found a roleplay more fun than that one.

[TH4NK YOU B3N]

I've been meaning to read Worm because I wanted to make my own super hero story and was worried that I was veering too far into sincerity. Like, I'm not sure what the difference between sincere and ironic with a deadpan delivery is at this point. I'm sort of an anxious mess at this point.

I'm wondering how funny the grimdarkness is. Less humorous? I hope there's still some. I mean, the situation is absurd.

[RoyalFiddle]

I very fondly remember a big discord roleplay I was in based off Worm, with all OC's. I made a villain character named King and eventually reigned over the SH9, but was killed by another character. They pretended to join the Slaugherhouse 9, and had a meeting with my character, but in reality, had a bomb and blew both of us up, toppling the building and killing the rest of the SH9. I made more interesting characters but they got killed off pretty early in events that were out of my control. I don't think i've ever found a roleplay more fun than that one.

Isn't King the like, actual founder of the S9 though? The due who differed any damage done to him onto the people he touched within the last 24 hours?

[bathtimebird]

I've read almost all of Worm, I dropped it partway through part 30, literally the last part of the whole thing. I got really tired of it, plus no one who i regularly talk to seems to like it or know what it is. It was fun while it lasted, oh well.

[rookie1978]

I very fondly remember a big discord roleplay I was in based off Worm, with all OC's. I made a villain character named King and eventually reigned over the SH9, but was killed by another character. They pretended to join the Slaugherhouse 9, and had a meeting with my character, but in reality, had a bomb and blew both of us up, toppling the building and killing the rest of the SH9. I made more interesting characters but they got killed off pretty early in events that were out of my control. I don't think i've ever found a roleplay more fun than that one.

Isn't King the like, actual founder of the S9 though? The due who differed any damage done to him onto the people he touched within the last 24 hours?

Yeah, I forgot his name at the time and only realized I was making a reference later. Funny enough is that my powers were similiar- any damage I took was instead spread equally through myself and those around me, dividing it. I could also totally control people within a short distance near me. My nickname was 'meatshield' because id always have a wall of innocent mind controlled civilians around me.

[Fresh]

I absolutely ADORE worm. rookie touched on a good part of why the writing is so compelling - I find a lot of "rational" and smart characters are written totally insufferably, and it makes it so much harder to read. the various voices in worm are generally engaging, and when taylor's using her brain it never feels like the character's breaking the fourth wall to condescend to me. I wish more superhero fiction was written like this - I'd actually give a shit and not be forced to submit to our snark-per-minute Disney (tm) (c) (r) overlords. I also really REALLY love how the powers are handled, and making up new powers for characters is a big part of why creating worm OCs is so fun.

[rookie1978]

I also really REALLY love how the powers are handled, and making up new powers for characters is a big part of why creating worm OCs is so fun.

Oh man, Skitter's bug combos made me go insane. Using some bugs to carry other bugs, the bug range-extenders, the one giant bug, the way she originally dealt with her first fight,

Spoiler

Show

the fucking way she 'killed' alexandria

...
Watching Taylor and other people's powers keep evolving and evolving just made it so much better to read. It never felt stupid, either, it was entirely played straight and it all felt like something someone clever enough would come up with and put into practice. I've said it plenty of times but Skitter is one of the most compelling and fun to follow protagonists in writing i've ever seen.