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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Herremann the Wise" data-source="post: 4263878" data-attributes="member: 11300">Match Ten / Starman  vs. BerandorARWINK’S JUDGMENTAgain, apologies for the brief comments, but I figured quick and done is better than detailed and not-done at this point. Starman / The Great Illusion of a DreamThis one causes me some consternation; the voice is solid, the character is interesting, but the plot leaves me cold. It’s a story driven by whimsy more than anything, and I’ve never really been satisfied by this. I think it’s largely the ending that loses me – it’s an abrupt change and a happy ending that never really feels like it’s in doubt. Frank’s initial desire to become a knightly hero feels a little on-the-nose, and his transformation doesn’t feel like it’s earned.Berandor / SamsaraThat first line: great image, very exacting in its detail. That control carries through the rest of the piece, which is loaded with great one-liners and subtle ironies. The only real disappointment for me was the switch to Richard as POV character in order to get Amurayi free – for all that it has some of my favourite lines in the story, it’s a moment that’s purely narrative device. JudgmentStarman pulls together a solid story and may have the better picture use by a small margin (Berandor fudges a little with the tree image, IMO, switching out the fantastic feel for a more convenient milieu), but Berandor’s tale does a great job of mixing folklore and the imagery into a cohesive whole. I’m going to give the round to Berandor.  THE JUDGMENT OF HERREMANN THE WISEI’d have to say that I got really excited when I posted the pictures. I thought them diverse, tough yet evocative – my favourite set of images thus far.Starman has produced an OK story that draws the images together well but in truth, I don’t think Frank did enough for me as a central character. Frank either had to earn my sympathy or deserve my derision and instead he kind of fell in the middle. As such, the ending was fairly limp in terms of affecting me as a reader. Frank’s pining for an illusion was just too one-dimensional. There wasn’t enough meat in the story for me to believe that Frank’s dream girl was anything but an illusion, the story staying in the mundane rather than threatening the fantastic. Still, it was a good effort with a tough set of pictures.Without beating around the bush, Berandor has given me something wonderful here. This was a story that despite its length had me re-reading it several times in rapture. It was exceptionally well crafted, used the pictures to full effect and did everything you could hope for from a story crafted in less than 72 hours. The twist was well done; the characters involved engaging and the pacing appropriate for the slightly extended tale that was presented. What can I say but it was a joy to read a story of this standard. Exceptionally well done!My judgment goes to Berandor.MALDUR’S JUDGMENTRound two: Berandor vs. StarmanStarman: nice story, especially the way you put in the suprised midget was priceless (great pic as well <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )berandor: great beginning, and even as the end was slightly less....epic, I loved the twist. Supernatural creatures better be carefull around indian midgets <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Judgement: BerandorFINAL JUDGMENTCongratulations to Starman for another stellar effort but Berandor gets the clean sweep.</blockquote>

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