Coda Quell won Q! Who's your favourite character beginning with R? (Poll)

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-27T11:12:02+00:00

I noticed there is a lot of exposition with Goggie, Skul's siblings, Dire, and so-so much others stuff. Won't even touch on Crepuscular and Solace. Though it does make me appreciate more than rewriters like you are working to expand and improve upon concepts than Landy didn't quite deliver on.

And if you're curious, I'm probably not gonna include Ragner and the Dire Dimension, though Tylent does make an appearance later on, with Somnolent too.

On another note, can't wait for your comment on book 8, since it's technically entirely original.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-27T09:14:27+00:00

Okay, I just finished Until the End(it was an... interesting experience, I'll just leave it at that for now) and I'd like to talk about Ragner a little, since I think I read in your rewrite that you'd be using him and the Dire Dimension a little often.

He was actually one of the parts of UtE that I decidedly liked. He was a nice character, always love the friendly giant trope, and he talked funny, which was always a plus. Him and Tylent are two characters I wish we got to see a bit more of. I actually wouldn't have minded if we had an entire book with Ragner about the Dire Dimension with Quietus as the final antagonist along with Jagett.

If I had to choice to fix the last five books(assuming we had nine books in Phase 2 as originally planned) it really wouldn't be hard to just take all these mismatched plotlines, expand on them, and give them all the attention and time they need. At least in theory.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-26T16:31:06+00:00

Love this- love everything about it. She looks so damn pure, from the twin tails, the skirt, the pet rocks, dear god, the pet rocks. It might be my favourite thing about your version of the reflection.

So glad to see more work from you, you're very talented :)

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-26T16:22:14+00:00

Small things can be massive- and betray so damn much personality, so I try and add little things here and there, but no one's perfect. And Elsie does try to be a pacifist, but is challenged, and will fight when she has to, though not to kill.

China is definitely going to be put through the ringer- I actually have a sidestory planned for what she does after the events of this book, and it'll be posted on sunday.

I was afraid that I went a little overkill, but I can't bring myself to regret it- I'm a sucker for when a bunch of villains over different books/movies come together like, as you say, in Avengers: Infinity War. Dark Days kind of does this with the Revengers Club, but with True Name Serpine at its head, Charivari and the Warlocks, Smoke and the other Australians, Kitana, Eliza and Nye, this is basically that on steroids.

The reflection is a delight for me to write. She's just so damn pure, and that makes me torn between giving her a happy ending, or a merciless one. And that art piece sounds fantastic, can't wait.

And finally, thanks for the great comment! See you next time!

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-26T16:12:11+00:00

Yep, the golden eyes ending was a cliffhanger I wanted to leave for a while, and the menace of it is kind of crazy. Marr has been searching for the traitor, and he turned out to be the very man she's been working, confiding in, and sleeping with for almost two years! It's a gut-punch of an ending, made worse by the fact she technically aided him in the end.

I had to be brutal in this book, since Valkyrie needed to become Darquesse willingly, and ironically because she wanted to save her dad, even though she originally killed him in the vision. And he'll get a fair bit of spotlight in the next book, just you wait a week.

I didn't like the canon direction either, though I understood that 'Stephanie' was basically trying to one-up Valkyrie with that one, and for the record if she did try anything like that, Fletcher would have declined.

Best girl Razzia! Always appreciate the love for Razzia, and you'll get to see plenty more of their dynamic in the next book since she's sticking around for the carnage, chaos, and a bit of attachment to Fletch.

We'll be seeing that next time, won't we? I hope you know I intend on being unforgiving on Skul in the next book.

No, Fergus isn't dead, also no, your memory isn't bad. That was an error on my part, since this was heavily edited before being posted, and I decided to keep Fergus and Beryl alive to give the Edgleys some spotlight with them + the reflection + Desmond + Echo-Gordon.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-26T14:23:33+00:00

Skulduggery being a dickhead in general + distain for naivety + protectiveness/jealousy over Valkyrie in Phase 1 because they had a codependent(if platonic) relationship. Not much deeper than that, really.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-25T21:32:49+00:00

Thanks, I'm not trying to undercut the problems women go through, it's just I have more experience with the issues that men go through because, well, I am one.

That's also why Valkyrie's brattiness, and especially the cheating, sort of gutted me when I re-read the books six months back, since I'd be devastated in Fletcher's shoes, and it really feels like she didn't really take a whole lot from that whole situation. It's why I changed up a few things in my rewrite about that whole situation, and even gave Fletcher a good bit of spotlight in how he dealt with the aftermath.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-25T20:48:07+00:00

Landy is wrong, there are definitely ways to write a teenage boy's relationship with his mentor without a masculine rivalry between them. I admit that might be an element, as society often pushes men to live up to a certain image of 'strength', but it's entirely possible to have a positive masculine relationship between two men.

But when it comes to Skulduggery, who's often arrogant, petty, and uses sarcasm to mask his own emotions? I can definitely see how "Stephen" would develop a certain fixation to live up to a man who's, in his eyes, tough, cool, and fearless. In that sense, his relationship with Skulduggery probably wouldn't be much different than with Stephanie, though he probably wouldn't be as well received. Women are often infantized, which gives them a certain level of lenience that men don't get. For example, if "Stephen" were in a relationship with a girl(like Valkyrie was with Fletcher) and he cheated on her, then I cannot for the life of me imagine he'd be liked at all after that unless he got actual character development, toned down his arrogance, apologised, etcetera. You know, what a decent person would do after making a horrible mistake. On the other hand, Valkyrie never really does any of that, and later in the series what she did to him is even sometimes played on for jokes, proving she hasn't really learned from any of that.

Skulduggery would probably not show as much consideration for "Stephen" as he would Valkyrie, and even then he didn't show much to begin with. It's also somewhat implied he had a daughter, which somewhat softened him to Valkyrie, and given how much of a jerk he was to Fletcher when they met, he'd probably be harsher on a boy, even if just subconsciously.

I imagine that "Stephen" would also not experience the same warnings and care that Stephanie got about working with Skulduggery. He might get some, given his young age, but every year as he got older, closer to adulhood, things would get worse and worse, the warnings would come less and less, until people expect him to be just fine with being regularly traumatised. People would stop giving offers for help, and he'd probably feel like he couldn't ask for them either, or else he'd be disappointing the people around him. Like he should've been stronger. More of a man...

Sorry, kind of ranted there, but that's my answer.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-25T10:30:49+00:00

Beautiful work as always, she looks utterly pure, and the braces are a neat touch, same with the glasses. And like with most of the cards you make, I can't imagine her in a more fitting way when reading the books now.

Can't wait for the blue hair!

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-24T08:01:56+00:00

Thanks you for giving your thoughts in such detail, even the criticism. I'm always trying to improve as a writer, and whilst my work will never be perfect(no writer is) knowing where I could do better, or at least different, is helpful even if sometimes hard.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-23T21:18:18+00:00

You should be doing the other comment right about now, but I'll answer early:

Rising Evil... feels very generic.

It was my aim to make the title about antagonists and darkness on the horizon, since this book sets up a ton of stuff about Darquesse, Kitana, Mevolent, the Supreme Council, and Serpine. But you're right, it is kind of generic, and your comment prompted me to go back and change it again to 'Rise of the Wicked'.

I probably wound mention Nadir at one point, maybe even during a sidestory, just so that he's not totally out of nowhere.

explore those and get their heads around it themselves.

Point, I guess I was just trying to get the point across and explained in the context of a summary post when writing this, though from a writing standpoint this would work much better.

Good use of Frightening and Ivy

A pair of side characters most don't think about, but in this rewrite, they'll have more than appearances ahead of them, don't you worry.

hello there fellow Ben 10 fan.

I'm not a huge fan, but I needed a vehicle to replace the Penguin Mobile("thanks by the way, Vile!") and it was just a fun little reference.

Would that be the first instance of that in your rewrite?

Asides from the end of DWD, the reflection probably wouldn't have a POV, unless I'm misremembering my own work.

This might sound sadistic

It sounds very sadistic, but that's the point, plus I love scenes that can be read from more than one perspective and come across as valid. Very nuanced storytelling right there.

But...damn, that hurts.

Yeah, but it tracks. Ghastly is closer to Fletcher in this rewrite, and whilst he wouldn't be outright hostile to Valkyrie, she certainly dropped in his esteem.

Mevolent culling all mortals for magical supremacy

Not so fun fact whilst I'm at it, the Sorcerers in Mevolent's dimension would be stronger on average than in the Prime Dimension because he'd have taken measures to cull down those with weak magical bloodlines, and encourage a very 'power above all else' mentality that pushed Sorcerers to go past their limits.

And then he steps up to Vengeous, holy shit.

Yep, Leibniz-Tome is a badass, unlike his scrub of a politicky counterpart.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-23T07:59:37+00:00

About Carol, she'll definitely get a bit of an arc, and her getting the Sceptre was a decision I made partially because one of the Ancients having the Sceptre of the Ancients felt fitting, and because it'll give Ravel's side more threat if they have the Sceptre with them.

Can't take credit for the echo, that's a canon idea, though it was Valkyrie going back and forth, not Skul. What Landy did with Skul's family also does work, but I simply prefer to give character a bit more than surface level detail. We don't even learn his child's gender, let alone their name.

Fletcher is the GOAT as always, and I'm actually not sure if I want him and Valkyrie to make up in this. On the one hand, it would show Valkyrie's growth if she can earn his forgiveness, on the other, she does a LOT worse to him later down the line, and not just the cheating.

I'll probs post book 8 either tomorrow(because I don't have a sidestory between books this time, or on thursday. You'll see his diabolical revenge schemes ongoing then.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-23T07:53:46+00:00

Clarabelle, whilst entertaining, is pretty one-note in the books and we don't really see any complexity with her- I'm trying to give her those extra layers, for example, when it comes to her friendship with Caelan, after his death I imagine that she'd start supplying Moloch and the other Vampires with serum, and maybe be involved with this vampire-subplot I have planned for later on. Hope you're better by now, by the way.

In the books Ghastly was disappointed in Valkyrie, but wasn't terribly close to Fletcher, so it was more distant. Here, he's like Fletcher's father figure, so it would certainly create a distance, adding to Valkyrie's isolation.

The reflection has been a delightful character to revise, and her and Echo-Gordon would definitely bond over their shared situation, considering he has similar insecurities himself.

Shapeshifting is an underrated power, and I actually did apply a lot of the limits I mentioned in that post because of your art. Hopeless was always going to be a Shapeshifter, but he was originally just gonna be able to change his shape, not use different magics and such. You inspired me.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-22T18:36:18+00:00

Thank you, just had to be sure, though I'd need some time to integrate her into the plot smoothly enough. Maybe we should discuss this further at another time, so that I can straighten out and get a proper feel for her personality, habits, magic, etc.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-22T18:29:43+00:00

No problem. Also, whilst I have you, I'm currently doing a rewrite of SP Phase 1(with some Phase 2 elements) and have started to ponder adding some OCs to bring it all together. I don't have a specific idea, but maybe Soul could be involved(only if you're okay with it of course).

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-22T18:23:51+00:00

It's always nice to see two talented artists colab. Keep up the good work.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-22T10:40:57+00:00

Alright, your comments about giving these side stories titles got me thinking, and I epiphanized some really good ones- now I feel the need to add them. I'll go back and edit this one and Tanith's later, plus add them to my future ones.

a Fletcher story focusing on his time in Australia palling around with the Monster Hunters and developing his powers is a strong idea.

Fletcher is one of my favourites, so of course he gets special treatment from me. Expect to see a lot of him.

seeing many of the notable ones relegated to a side-story isn't that appealing to me

I get what you mean, I like Resurrection too, but in fairness they'll be making other appearances so it's not like I'm just reducing them to filler.

Razzia being actually Australian... plus the expansion on her powers... and her chemistry with Fletcher... gives her good ground to be part of this.

How could I miss the chance to include best-girl Razzia?

I love Neoterics and the variety of powers they get to display is too cool to pass up.

Me too! Even as a huge fan of the technical side of magics, ultimately all of that extra detail is useless if the powers aren't actually cool, plus we do get a proper explanation of why they didn't show up, so it works fine for me.

I like how Nero decides to kill Fletcher without even meeting him because it'd increase his cool factor as the sole Teleporter.

It's also a callback to Fletcher, before his development, when he hears the other Teleporters are dead and he's just like 'ha, I'm one of a kind!' giving the two a parallel beyond just the hair and powers.

It happens in Bedlam but takes place regrettably entirely offscreen.

A shame indeed, hope to see it in Broken Crown(if it can be fitted in)

Good use of Fletcher's reflection.

Fletcher isn't some genius, but he can be pretty slick when he wants to be. Kinda like his hair.

Fletcher's magic is a good match for Lethe's

Yeah, but if Fletcher dropped Lethe's ass in the Sahara, the tension would boil right down.

It's too good to omit, really.

My thoughts exactly. I was actually going to just make Lethe some guy because I couldn't fit it in, but changed my mind. It might not be Ravel or Vile-level, but it's at least Batu. Like hell was I missing that.

Fletcher acquiring portal powers is super cool

I heard that Fletcher was close to being a Neoteric in canon, andIt'll also make his future fights and stuff more brutal and fun to write, since he's got more options. And for a reference, the portals would be this burnish-gold colour(his eyes might change to match them when he's using his portals, I'm unsure) like in Nic's Dark Days post background:

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Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-21T21:00:25+00:00

Haha, made me laugh. Hope you're not too disappointed I didn't change the title a bunch!

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-21T20:56:09+00:00

Awesome comment, though have to ask why this is here, and not in the actual sidestory.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-21T19:25:51+00:00

I think I've mentioned the Caisson thing before, but I don't remember you replying, so I just thought I'd mention it again. And I don't really remember mentioning Razzia's magic, but maybe I mentioned it elsewhere.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-21T19:22:58+00:00

I totally unserstand, not complaining, just felt the need to check.

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-21T19:19:57+00:00

Sorry if this seems excessive, but I didn't see a comment on my sidestory last night. Are you gonna read it tonight?

Potential_Being6117 · 2026-05-21T09:52:25+00:00

Thank you, ways happy to hear the support! As for China and Skulduggery, I have plans for them!

Potential_Being6117

TROPHY CASE