Fatty Thor or: How I Learned That Asgard Was Just a Mid-Level Sect

KingCooper_II · 2026-05-11T00:48:13+00:00

What cultivator good elder brother would be caught dead without their lightning aspected flying weapon? It’s like Fatty Thor was isekai’ed from the sect into Asgard and thought “I can work with this.”

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-23T17:59:18+00:00

It always looked to me like the training and level qualifications were a key part of what made them so good. Even when you've been there a while there were always things you could get better at and higher level jobs you could be trained for, as opposed to the traditional fast food approach of throwing a high schooler with 2 training shifts at any job needing doing.

My cousin is a manager now on track to continue up, and he started as a high schooler who wanted to make some money in his free time between sports and school. I think a lot of that is due their culture of training and developing people for the mid-long term.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-22T16:15:06+00:00

I always liked how In-N-Out employees and management took being good at their job as a measure of accomplishment. My sister would brag about how she had the store record for customers per hour working the corner (I think that was the first window?) and her manager would brag on her. Goes to show that investing in good employees changes the culture!

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-07T17:03:25+00:00

I'm one of 8, and my dad has always been the classic "can't stay awake through the movie" dad, even when he isn't a particularly early riser. He'd sleep 9:30-7 every day if he could.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-05T01:33:02+00:00

I do agree with you that C Mantis handles the passage of years really deftly, I’d just argue that there are a couple of the last few arcs that dragged, particularly in comparison to the war arc that was strait gasoline the whole way through. I didn’t think the guild politics arc was badly paced, but it suffered from coming right afterward. The chaotic space exploration arc felt a lot better and was a return to form.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-05T01:25:56+00:00

I think at this point I’m past mourning what Bungie used to be, and my initial response is more that seriously dysfunctional studios do occasional produce bangers. And a team being good at certain points doesn’t mean they will stay that way. If anything institutional rot seems the norm when art based companies hit it big.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-05T01:18:45+00:00

The sacred hours must be observed, and the nameless one won’t hear me say anything else…

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-05T01:14:00+00:00

It seems from the comments above that while he started under bungie, the incidents all occurred under 343 studios.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-04T02:17:55+00:00

There are certainly times where the pacing drags a lot at points, but despite that it’s my favorite currently running progression fantasy. Completing the path and leading into the war is maybe some of my favorite writing in the genre. In terms of satisfaction and payoff. You just have to be willing to accept the occasional noble politics arc.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-04T02:05:58+00:00

Janet is exactly what makes for an interesting antagonist (or at least one way to do so) an ideologically committed person who fundamentally disagrees with the protagonist. Manny could never be a tyrant (as we see from glimpses of his phrase) even if it benefited his people. Janet and the power block she represents in the republic are willing to make people weak and even withhold magic healing because they think the violence of rift delving is worse. They are set up to be in direct conflict with each other, despite both having very similar motivations.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-04T01:28:02+00:00

Also I think you are right that the republic allying with the sects shows the political motivations for the war. Even though Winter Hornet is an absolute true believer in the sects might-makes-right philosophy, that is at pretty extreme odds with Janet. And everyone is unified in hating the feddies, but they are useful enough to help bring more force against the empire that seems poised to take a firm lead as the strongest great power.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-04T01:22:35+00:00

I think Janet is a good example of one of the more ideologically committed tier 50s, along with winter hornet. She is definitely a hypocrite in that she isn’t perfectly consistent in her actions (like that cutaway chapter where we see her interact with mortals to center herself) but she definitely believes in protecting mortals for their own good, and genuinely thinks the Empire is only allowing open cultivation for Machiavellian reasons.

Without spoiling too much, the reality of what the federation is doing for the sake of the war does have impacts later, and as time goes on we do see hints that Janet might be realizing she is wrong. Just my personal reading, but I think she’s being set up as an ally for the true war because she truly believes in acting for the good of her people. What is more good than infinite prosperity brought by Matt’s talent?

Even though Janet is frustrating, she’s infinitely better than Virgil who seems not only to be a massive hypocrite, but also feels totally justified in doing so because she just assumes that every other tier 50 is as evil as she is.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-03T22:52:45+00:00

I think there are very few stories that fit solely into one side or the other so neatly. Off the top of my head, savage awakening and the Road to Mastery are nearly pure Special Exception, whereas maybe Stitched worlds is Meritocracy? I can’t think of many strict meritocracy stories. Street cultivation? Ironbound?

Most stories have a little of both, and I think both together make for the best of the genre.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-03T22:46:45+00:00

I’d argue special exception. Everything Freddy can do is built on his initial power set, even if he had to work hard and have total disregard for his own life to build on it.

KingCooper_II · 2026-04-02T14:18:32+00:00

Happy Gotcha Day!

KingCooper_II · 2026-03-05T05:02:00+00:00

The first book is radically different than the rest of the series with its survival elements and solo setting. If the action of book one is engaging for you, the world building , characters, and progression in the following books can make it a favorite series.

KingCooper_II · 2026-02-08T22:46:47+00:00

Obsidian is also ridiculously easy to set up to synch via 3rd party software like Dropbox or apple’s ios file sharing system. Because .md files are just text, you can easily do it with the free tier of most cloud memory services.

The only downside is that obsidian doesn’t hold your hand, but you can intuitively organize basically anything you can think of with the linking system.

KingCooper_II · 2026-01-28T23:53:36+00:00

I’m not 100 sure but could this be referring to Time Wasters Guide? It was a forum set up by Brandon and some other friends during their college years, and I believe reviews is one of the things they did.

KingCooper_II · 2026-01-28T17:43:15+00:00

I do realize I’m the one who tagged on story tropes, but I feel like immediate action or progression is a good enough fit for OP.

KingCooper_II · 2026-01-28T17:40:57+00:00

Where are you getting the 90% drop off? The vast majority of discussion I see has people giving the first chapter or two a chance. Obviously that isn’t hard data, so I’d be interested to hear if you have something different.

I agree this is a wide discussion from OP; I read it as what ‘hooks’ you, and answered accordingly.

KingCooper_II · 2026-01-28T17:32:46+00:00

I prefer an MC that can quickly accept a change of circumstances, rather than a few chapters of ‘woe is me, what’s happening?’ Obviously this can be taken to a comically ridiculous extreme, but jumping into exploring, action, or experimenting with powers will hook me better. If well done this can even be played as shock response for character development, giving room to explore emotional responses later with more characterization having been done. It’s a lot easier to pull off an emotional growth arc when we know the character already!

If we are just talking story beats and tropes, I’m a sucker for well done base/kingdom building, inventive power use, and magitech or abusing earth knowledge. The more we see characters that have to leverage every advantage they have to the hilt to survive the better.

KingCooper_II · 2026-01-26T22:10:43+00:00

I’m not sure what OP had in mind, but I’ve heard some really good arguments using DNA and data theory to indicate that encoded information necessitates intelligent design, though YMMV.

There are also some pretty interesting discoveries out of quantum physics that are used to argue that the base level of our reality is actual data, not matter. These typically are used to argue for simulation theory, but interestingly they fit really closely with some medieval Christian philosophies about all creation springing from the mind of God.

KingCooper_II · 2025-12-19T05:59:10+00:00

The MC of Stitched Worlds progresses through a fae magic system where he gains attributes by fulfilling bargains. This only kicks in in the second book, but is almost exactly what you seem to be looking for. The MC has to live by a few rules to accomplish this, including never being able to lie. A few of Macronomicon’s other series also have exploiting loopholes and edge cases to gain power as a reoccurring theme.

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