kakyo001 wrote:I'm usually a bit schizophrenic if it comes to permanent mind control (and I think that's what the Queen does). I have no problems to use it in my own stories but I get angry if someone else does the same... (and that's as unfair as it can get towards other writers... I'm "working" on it but changing my own personality didn't worked so far
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I think I've found out 'why' I'm unable to fully enjoy those stories... to me permanant mind control equals death... and 'killing' characters destroys possible future stories of that said character... I'm able to convince myself that I'm writing in a "alternative universe" and thus be able to use the characters multiple times but so far I'm unable to acknowledge the same idea for other writers...
uhm... that got longer than expected... even though, I'm eager to read the new stories you're going to create even if I don't like what happens to some of the characters
-- I can understand that- both the desire and the double standard. Part of being human is we don't always make sense, especially outside of our own heads.
On the subject of permanent mind control equaling death of the characters I can see that side of the story- but I obviously lean in the opposite direction. I dislike temporary MC themes more than (well done) permanent ones just because the temporary nature of the MC cheapens it for me. It's tantamount to mental rape in the extreme case and still an extreme violation of self at its best. Given that we're not really dealing with shades of grey but squarely in the "black", if you will, then I'd rather not use the excuse that its "temporary" to justify it.
That being said, I *totally* understand what you mean about it being sorta like killing off a character as (s)he won't be available in the same fashion for future stories. BUT- that is only really a "loss" if the MC is of the kind that actually does remove the character from the storyline. For instance, the MC at the end of "Club Pump" is an excellent example of a permanent MC that is totally back-story that does not remove them from future stories. Now, the Grey-bot theme, or even perhaps what Belinda is doing to the "Guards" at the Fun-House is a bit more extreme- as is what happens to the characters in the Queen's Universe. The way I get around that is by not investing overly much into individual characters so the loss of them is not felt to keenly. Of course this leads to a different issue- few of the transformations carry much weight as there is no real sense of "loss" at their assimilation.
If I had my own villain in the Metrobay Universe I would most certainly make it something akin to Trishbot's Hypnotica, although without the pesky conscious messing things up. Especially if the nature of the MC included amnesia of the event. I'd be making "special delivery's" to the heroines all the time for short trips involving their "help" with certain issues, physical or otherwise.
Of course, I say that fully knowing that most of the stories I intend to write involve some aspect of MC with far-reaching implications. Villeins have to come from somewhere too, right? My intention is to interweave elements of temporary MC with a few things that tend to stick a lot more. Sorta like what happened to the Silver Satin after the events in the Platinum Universe. She got a taste of what being truly "free" to use her own nanites w/o the pain of deciding right/wrong and I think she liked it a bit more than she is willing to admit to herself. I love that there was some fallout from that storyline and I hope that it ends up addressed again in a future story instead of just being lost beneath the rug of "that was all in a prior episode" as so often happens of attempted character development in comics of most varieties.
All of this, of course, only pertains to the Omega Unit Universe- not the Queen's. She is outright ruler of that alternate universe, all she has to do is seize the reigns.
