Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Radiating Gnome" data-source="post: 8389785" data-attributes="member: 150">Round 2, Match 2: Neurotic vs GradineThanks to both of you for your entries, for all your work writing these entries -- this was an interesting, provocative batch of ingredients to work with, and it took you to very different places.So, for today we have The Fairy and the Doll (F&D) and New Beginnings (NB).  [spoiler]F&D is a romp through children's literature with an adult sense of humor (as a lot of these intellectual properties hide in the details), a story of lost children trying to rescue Tinkerbell, all very neatly done.  And NB is a darker, more adult tale of corrupt fey and an evil sorcerer preying on the young.  Very different expressions from the same batch of ingredients, which is awesome. I like to start with ingredients, so here goes.....Lost BoysIn F&D, the Lost boys -- in this case, both literally the lost boys from neverland, but updated to be lost children instead, are the heroes in the story.  I did the usage, the update to modern gender inclusion, and the way that opens the door to everything else.In NB, the lost boys are boys snatched by Atlantes. These boys are victims, lured away by a well-hung homunculus to be imprisoned forever. This is dark, creepy, and thematic. I think both entries are doing the lost boys well. Buzzing Monasteryin NB,  the monastery is "buzzing" because of all the extra activity related to the coronation.  This is a reasonable use of the ingredient -- certainly buzzing with activity is a decent interpretation of the ingredient. In F&D, on the other hand the buzzing monastery is buzzing because it's in an area of the hundred acres wood that is inundated with bees -- bees which Pooh leads off so the children can discover the shrunken monastery.  In this case, the monastery isn't buzzing -- it's small, and in an area that is buzzing, but the monastery isn't.  I think it works to meet the standards of the ingredient, and I'm enjoying where things are going at this point in the story, but from a strictly ingredient-use point of view, I think NB does it a little better. Wicked GrinF&D again lands this one pretty solidly with the Cheshire cat, a living wicked grin that sometimes has a magical cat attached.  The Cheshire cat keeps the plot moving along -- and I imagine a finished version of this adventure, without word course, might have other verses of the cat's introduction to Pooh and the monastery. This is great stuff. In NB, the wicked grin is the creepy-ass permagrin on the face of the tumescent homunculus.  It's good, and I think the persona of this little monster is a very distinct, satisfyingly creepy part of the NB story. I find myself torn by which of the two uses I find better -- frankly, the use in NB makes me uncomfortable in ways the Cheshire Cat does not, but I don't think that discomfort is a problem -- that little bugger has the potential to be creepy AF, and the cat is more comfortable because it's safer.  But they're both good. Winter CourtNB jumps into this ingredient with the king's Winter Court, which is coming to stay at the monastery and provoking all of the buzzing activity.  And it's also the fey winter court that attacks the nobles of the city when the PCs bring evidence of Atlantes' crimes before the court.  I'm a little fuzzy about some of this, and it might be that I need to read the entry another time, but the winter court seems to be two things -- the king's winter court (presumably mortal) and the fey winter court, servants of the fey queen of winter and secret allies of Atlantes. In F&B, the winter court is the court of the kingdom of Arendelle, where once again Elsa has "let it go" to pot. She's AWOL, and the court has been taken over by the Queen of Hearts and her deck of card soldiers.  Elsa will eventually need to be freed to restore order in her kingdom as a sort of mid-point goal on the way to freeing Tinkerbell. In this one, I think I find F&B's use of the ingredient a bit clearer and more satisfying.Salacious HomunculusI've already mentioned the Homunculus in NB a few times in this review -- I find the little creature pretty disturbing and creepy, and absolutely works for this ingredient.  This is pretty damn good. Meanwhile, F&B has transmuted the ingredient into a corrupted version of Pinocchio, who is holding Tinkerbell captive and has painted her blue.  This is a wild left turn that I loved, and while I find that because of the tone of the rest of the piece it's hard to get Pinocchio all the way to salacious here, and that makes this use just a whisker weaker than the homunculus in NB.A VoidIn F&B, the void is the place in Pinocchio where his soul should be - the lack that makes him salacious.  In NB, it's the big bad at the end of the story, the insatiable void that will try to consume the party in the end.  Again, I think NB's got a little edge here, but it's tenuous.  The use in F&B is nominal, just a sort of word game -- and it's probably arguable that the whole process of becoming a "real boy" is very much the idea of gaining a soul and becoming a person, which sort of makes the idea that the puppet version of Pinocchio would have a lack there read as a little problematic to me.  But I'm probably working too hard at it. Innocence GainedIn NB, Matthias regains innocence by being found not guilty of the crimes truly committed by Atlantes and the homunculus.  I'm pretty unexcited about this one -- since Matthias was never guilt of it, he was always innocent, so there was nothing to gain. In F&B, Pinocchio has lost his innocence because of the influence of Pleasure Island. He feels guilt and feels remorse -- but does contrition really bring back innocence?  I'm going to say that while I have some misgivings here, I still think there's more going on here than there is in NB for this ingredient. So, overall, I think that the ingredients were slightly better used in NB, but that overall the two entries both did an excellent job of weaving seven ingredients into their narratives, and so the result is exceptionally close. [/spoiler]Writing, Presentation, Playability[spoiler]I mean, let's just come right out and say it as an opening -- F&B is brilliant.  At every turn a new IP is dragged into the salad spinner.  Peter Pan/Neverland, Frozen, Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, Pinocchio, Winnie the Pooh.  And in most cases multiple elements from each were brought into the storyline, making each clearly invested in the whole.  I was amused the whole way and laughed like a maniac at work when I read the "copyright infringement" line. NB is also excellent, in it's own, very different way.  It doesn't have the obvious virtuosity of F&B, but it's telling a dark story with a lot of flavor and tone, pulling together elements that by and large feel natural together despite being so random and diverse.  This is less flashy excellence, with a big throbbing boner.  It's very good. [/spoiler]Conclusion[spoiler]In the end, though, F&B's circus act of weaving so many things together is my favorite entry.  NB's excellent entry is everything that it should be, and doesn't let us down at all, but F&B's medley of violated intellectual property is just exceptional.  I rated NB slightly better for pure ingredient use, but in this case I find that isn't enough of an advantage to overcome the zany brilliance I find in F&B.So, one vote for The Fairy and the Doll. [/spoiler]</blockquote>

Verification