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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Herremann the Wise" data-source="post: 4227975" data-attributes="member: 11300">Match Eight / maxfieldjadenfox vs. MythagoARWINK’S JUDGMENTMaxfieldjadenfox / Spring BreakMy first response to the story was, quite literally, yes, we’re going chick-lit!(note: no irony intended; I was legitimately excited to see the story go there).  It’s always a refreshing change of pace to get something that isn’t fantasy or SF in a competition like this, especially when you’ve got the added tension of wondering exactly when the weirdness will start (an inevitability, really, given the nature of the contest). Then the weirdness comes and there’s a great build, the tension growing, and then…we dump the protagonist and switch over to David and Rob as the primary POV instead?Hrm. Call me a grumpy reader, but this kind of threw me since I’d spent the first half of the story investing in Allison. I can’t think of many stories that pull of this kind of bait-and-switch effectively (except Psycho), and despite some nice dialogue between our new heroes the story never quite picks up the momentum it had prior to Allison stepping into the phantom airplane. Even the picture use suffers a little, lapsing into easy choices and quick scenes. I’m guessing Maxfieldjadenfox fell victim to the time-crunch and rushed to get the story out, which is something of a pity since the narrative was building so well. Mythago / UntitledPulp super-heroes? Plane with a puppy brain? The Chippendale Boys? Awesome. In terms of picture use, Mythago surprised me time and again. Even when I thought one of the pictures was just being slipped in as scene-setting, the story looped around and made it an important part of the narrative. The short, concise scenes capture the characters well, and the voice suits; if I had to pick a flaw, it’d be the momentary confusion I had at the beginning of the story as I tried to place it in a genre – the absence of visual cues makes it a tricky setting to get a grasp on as a reader.JudgmentVery disparate stories in terms of style, and if we’d only been working from the first half of the stories I think it could have been a close contest. As it is, I think Mythago takes this round by virtue of the better picture use and a more cohesive story.  THE JUDGMENT OF HERREMANN THE WISEI knew as soon as I had put the pictures together that this was going to be a tough one – the toughest set of pictures in round one I think, and by quite a way. Not only was each image from a completely different ballpark, there was a universal lack of strength or dominance amongst them (with the aim of forcing the competitors to not only somehow join the dots but colour it in as well). The fourth image in particular -  even I have no idea what the hell it is! These pictures were going to really force the writers to find some strange weirdness to fit their story in and neither writer disappointed. I adored the love failure of maxfieldjadenfox and the tale of Allison although the eventual scene with Draco was… a little weird (good) but disjoint (not so good). I loved your tone and style early on; it set me at ease as a reader, comfortably joining along for the ride. When we shifted more to David and Rob, there was something here that jarred. On the whole though, I thought this was a very solid effort with a very difficult set of images.Mythago has put all other competitors on notice with a lesson in how to assemble a cohesive, sharp story that truly embraces a horrid set of images. Allow me to take a quick bow to your skills.While there were parts of maxfieldjadenfox’s that I enjoyed more, I think I am going to have to go for Mythago this time around for the highly consistent and complete package given (and excellently weird picture use too).Judgment: MythagoMALDUR’S JUDGMENTMatch 8 Mythago vs maxfieldjadenfoxGods this is hard, both very funny, very original stories. if I could I would let both pass on to the next round. odd superheroes vs an odd sitcom.hard hard hard.Judgement: Mythago, a puppy with an airplane body did it in the end.FINAL JUDGMENTMythago takes the chocolates but it would seem to have been a very narrow thing. A tough one here for the judges.</blockquote>

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