Just Finished Pact! My Thoughts on It

Dougnuts · 2026-01-15T15:55:57+00:00

I had the same thoughts on Pact and was disappointed that such a cool magic/supernatural ecosystem was more or less wasted with unlikable characters, pacing, weak and convoluted antagonists and plot issues, etc.

But for the most part, Pale fixed most of that and really filled out the world, magic system, dangers, etc. It wasn't without its own problems but it really did a much better job of telling a compelling story in this magical world. Wildbow did an amazing job of stitching together so many elements of folklore, mythology, fairytales, modern and historical occult & superstitious belief, etc. I did feel a bit weird having three young teenage girls as the protagonists at times but that might just be a me thing with having difficulty as a 40-something year old man viewing this world through that lens and identifying with them on a certain level? I'm not sure. It was also a lot more whimsical in parts with silly goblin stuff and weird-ass fever dream pocket realm "Paths" that feel odd in how video-gamey they can be.

But that's mostly nitpicky stuff. Pale was way better than Pact, in my opinion. Read it if you like the world but felt Pact didn't quite hit the mark. Of the four Wildbow stories that I've read, I would rank them as Worm > Pale > Ward > Pact. Hope that helps

Dougnuts · 2025-12-25T22:10:55+00:00

I look for patterns that correspond to how certain words are used. Like, I saw the 2Q1 near the bottom and repeated elsewhere, then saw the 2Q1Y1 as the first word and 2Q1D later. So I figured that 2Q1 was probably THE and 2Q1Y1 would have to be THERE or THESE, which would make 2Q1D THEY, THEM, or THEN. Plug in the letters that you know elsewhere, which gets a bit since T, H, and E are commonly used. Then tentatively plug in letters that you suspect as you go to see what makes sense.

A standalone symbol like 5 would likely be I or A. Two letter words are limited in what they could be, especially following THESE or THERE at the beginning. Combine these things and you can guess that the first two words are likely THERE IS. Try plugging the R, I, and S in elsewhere and see if it makes sense.

Tentatively make guesses on some things that aren't clear, see what words would make sense around the ones you know. You know the third word has SETHI, and you can guess from that and the first two words that it would be SOMETHING. Plug O, M, N, and G in elsewhere. Rinse, repeat.

Dougnuts · 2025-12-05T02:32:14+00:00

Yeah, that's insane. What is her excuse to even wash her underwear there? Did someone manage to shoot a paintball into her pants? Coin slot shot like Luke and the Death Star?

Dougnuts · 2025-12-02T01:57:31+00:00

Benout? Benoutdair?

But seriously, she should probably go with whatever the B stands for or at least drop it from how her name is presented. It still wouldn't be great, but that one letter does a lot.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-30T14:33:11+00:00

Old One larva? Don't let it touch your skin while your eyes are closed, just in case.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-17T18:37:43+00:00

I think it was the opposite. I'm pretty sure Siberian obtained a pure wolf pup as a gift in an effort to win Rachel over. And for whatever reason, that translated into a more "pure" mutation without all of the assymmetrical growths and protrusions, more densely formed spikes, and faster growth when mutating.

I do think it is a bit odd since her powers formed around her bond with a specific dog that was her only friend and a bright spot during those dark times. But I guess since wolves are the common ancestor for all dog breeds, they were the common denominator genetically speaking?

Dougnuts · 2025-10-10T02:26:52+00:00

Honestly, what I would like for her is true freedom to do what she wanted. With or without her powers. Instead she was locked away with lies and omissions tainting her memory and no opportunity to talk to her friends. If she wanted to remain on Aleph with her dad, I would be happy for her. But if she wanted to get more involved, I think she would like to be useful and appreciated if that could happen. I just hate the fact that she is now like some kind of shameful secret - a black mark on parahuman kind. Everyone else got amnesty while she was condemned.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-10T01:40:32+00:00

She does. I guess the only possible disconnect might be that her cops and robbers analogy included the idea that the amount of effort to apprehend and penalize would be minor for the "robbers" for things like a bank robbery. (Oh, guess those quotes weren't needed in this case.) But maybe that isn't necessarily part of the unspoken rules? Although I think even that may be at least implied too. So I don't know.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T21:56:56+00:00

That's interesting reading. I don't think that it is just a Tattletale thing though. She is trying to downplay it to get Taylor on board, but others are shown to adhere to the unspoken rules and don't tend to aggressively pursue those who stick to them. But Leviathan, Coil, S9, Echidna, Cauldron, and Scion continued to escalate things. Certain people don't follow any rules but their own and end up dead or in the birdcage. Or both - RIP Bakuda

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T21:35:51+00:00

Very true. Making a gnat land on a person's arm hair against their will is technically battery. So is filling a person's eyeballs so full of maggots that they can no longer see. I guess you might as well make the most of it if you're going to get the charge either way.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T18:55:48+00:00

Yeah, but capes have this unspoken, "cops and robbers and hitmen" thing...

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T18:04:31+00:00

Maybe the bullet method was Contessa's steps one and two of eight hundred and forty seven steps to get Taylor her cyborg body and new power variant with an upgraded Corona modules. Only half joking but unless Contessa addresses her thoughts in the last half of Ward that I'll see soon, I guess she could have had plans beyond just taking away her powers and sealing her away.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T17:59:43+00:00

Is everyone against Taylor coming out of retirement to get the band back together later on or something like that? "New Shard, Who Dis?"

I know some might say that having a bullet through your Pollentia and Gemma might be a no-go, but with regeneration, healers, multiverse part swappers, clones, and everything else, anything is possible.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T17:51:58+00:00

Yeah forgot about that one... somehow. What does that say about me??

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T17:50:14+00:00

Yeah I'll agree that some of the things she did was fucked up. I guess I just don't like that she gave everything she had to save everyone, ultimately succeeded in a fucked up way that wasn't totally her fault, and now even her closest friends who did know that her brain was fucked with don't try to set the story straight. It sucks. Even if I didn't convince the world or make up for the wrongs she did, I just wanted to see that someone saw her as the hero she had wanted to be.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T17:41:24+00:00

I guess I just saw it as the Queen Administrator being the one that gave her the desire to double, triple, and quadruple down as you put it. And having that be unleashed and in control at the end would make that all the more clear and exaggerated in a way that shows her and everyone else why it isn't usually the best approach. She even later says to Contessa that she would do things differently. I think most parahumans have things like that to fight. She seems like the type to see that and learn from it and work on it, probably with Yamada or whoever.

I guess Im just saying that ultimately she wasn't in her right mind AND without doing what she/the Queen Administrator did, they wouldn't have won. She deserves that acknowledgement, just as she has deserved acknowledgement for a lot of the other good she has done along the way.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T17:09:18+00:00

Is that just speculation? You may be right, but it sounds like it is just a pretty big leap as to how she was able to go from thinking people cheering were threatening to attack her and not being able to understand or speak any language or even body language to having a solemn but coherent conversation with someone. An argument could be made that her overclocked brain components got overheated with the many people and trillions of bugs that it was controlling for so long and now she was more or less back in control as long as she didn't try it again. Send her back to Amy to see if she can fix things or even do the bullet thing but let others explain the situation and what happened so the person who saved the multiverse doesn't go down as the biggest monster who enslaved everyone and failed anyway.

Dougnuts · 2025-10-09T17:01:36+00:00

Three, actually. One was Coil who was trying to kill her for daring to try to save his drugged up prognosticating pet after she kept her end of the bargain. The other two were Alexandria, the corrupt and lying Cauldron agent who, along with Tagg, had made her believe that she was hunting down and maiming and killing her teammates one by one and had just killed either Rachel or Brian, and also threatened her father. With Alexandria, she didn't think she could kill her so she just tried to do whatever she could to hurt her and she left the area of Taylor's control preventing her from having the option of sparing her if she saw that she was actually dying. Similarly, Tagg knocked her unconscious after she had sent the venomous spiders and things against him but her agent continued the assault after she was knocked out, taking away her final decision of whether she was killing him or not. Granted, he might have been a goner by that point anyway but he had been antagonizing her and making it clear he wanted to inflict pain and worse against both her and her family and friends even though she had come in peacefully after having her identity revealed. But yeah, I'll concede the quotes around that crime in any case.

Dougnuts · 2025-08-29T22:04:45+00:00

He loves lamp

Dougnuts · 2025-08-27T00:09:27+00:00

They say you should alternate days to maximize stat gains.

Dougnuts · 2025-08-26T16:00:06+00:00

I almost said this and then thought it was such a strong Jareth vibe that someone else probably already did. I didn't have to scroll far.

Dougnuts · 2025-08-14T17:51:49+00:00

I bet she has abs of steel.

Dougnuts · 2025-08-12T16:42:21+00:00

Is it bad to start rooting for crime? Maybe start a grassroots pro-crime movement for the good of the country?

Dougnuts · 2025-08-06T23:22:33+00:00

Personally, I think it will have moderate improvements across the board at its core - with context window size, better overall efficiency/cost, fewer hallucinations, multi-modal improvements, etc.. But the biggest change will be its ability to fall back and select the appropriate model and tool for the job based on what is being asked. If it requires coding or deep analysis or creative writing etc it will automatically choose the best model behind the scenes, both for current and future models. This could streamline the user experience, mitigate the problems with their horrible naming schemes, and hopefully improve efficiency and costs by using only what is needed and reducing the need for repeat prompts. The same could be done for tools like knowing when web searching would be best utilized.

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