‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 255

Dude states his opinion.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the popularity survey! After a very non-scientific analysis, this is the result I decided on:

Based off of over 1000 entries. Woot!

I'll admit, I didn't expect Jane to be doing so well. We shall have to see how they fare in two weeks comic-time. 😈 Shall be fun to see how/if they change!

Oh, and if you wanted to see the actual results, it's currently showcasing as a vote incentive 😀

Thanks!

EDIT: Full page is up!

Also, for the graph: Kat (pink) is 1st, Danni (blue) is 2nd, Jane (white) is 3rd, Bandit (green) is 4th, and Dude (red/maroon) is 5th.

41 Comments

Sandra smiles? That’s a smile?

Also… over a thousand entries? I figured there wouldn’t be many since no one else bothered to post anything in the forum. Huh. You don’t even need so sign up for it. I wonder why so many votes but no posts.

Hmm, lets see. Line colors seem to be based on the main color schemes of the Avatars. So pink is Kleya, blue is Danni, white is Bloody Mary, green is Bandit and maroon is The Dude.

Man, Dude is really low, I didn’t think he’d be that unpopular. He’s so pleasant to be around, mostly. I’m *really* surprised by how well that psycho, Mary is doing. On the other hand, Bandit is almost as unpopular as Dude, so that’s good. Most of the people here see through your false façade, Bandit so just get yourself killed off. We don’t want you, BOO!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Of course, this doesn’t help me at all since I’m red/green colorblind…

I would go first chart is pre-tutorial, the second is AFTER the tutorial.

I’m pretty sure this result is an exact match for my vote, right down to D being one of the two most popular characters outside of Jane’s group.
Apparently my opinions are boringly average. My inner hipster is infuriated.

So Bandit only recently passed The Dude in popularity? That’s interesting.

Another way to gather data might be to put a poll in the sidebar, leave it up for two weeks, then break the data down by day. But the question is, what should the poll question be?

In The Game, are the stats based on a ranking vote like the survey you used, or a single “who’s your favorite” question, or just how many people subscribe to a player’s feed or describe themselves as fans? Maybe it’s like Nielsen ratings– based entirely on how many viewers a player has. Then the sidebar question might be a set of checkboxes, one for each character, and the question is, “Which characters are you watching for today? (Check all that apply)” Or you might limit the checkboxes to 3, since one person wouldn’t be able to follow too many different feeds at once….

You don’t need to do anything like this– I was just musing on how the Game data would be collected, and how to come closest to that here. 😉

I would imagine that the way popularity is done is not relative to other members of the same Group, unless it’s deliberately intended to be a Survivor-type Game where somebody drops out every vote. It could be based simply on whether more people like than dislike the player (with the line being the 50/50 point) or relative to everyone playing the Game, not just within the Group.

I think Sandra sees potential there…

Her thoughts are probably this:

“Perfect villain material. Will require further investigation.”

Sandra has been looking for some leverage to get Kleya to help fix her City, I think. And maybe for some further anti-TenKa plot. If Kleya cares about Danni, that’s a lever that can be used.

What I can’t figure out is this: Sandra offered to move Kleya to her City. If she has that kind of authority, why is Jane still an Outsider?

Also, I just realized Jane must have a Kido unit of her own. This makes it a bit less likely that she’s Mina’s mom, unless the whole family really is in on the secret. If they have a working Kido unit, it would make the most sense for Mae to be using it. Although that could explain why Mae couldn’t remember how to stand up in L.i.F.e., if she’d been in the Kido unit for a while and had just been moved out….

That is some truly interesting conjecture. It even works logically as far as you have carried. With only the flimsiest circumstantial evidence you have made a credible theory. I am excited to see if the future pages will let us test it 😀

I agree that Sandra’s expression is really interesting. Did she make a bet with Paddy, and if so what did Paddy bet?

At first I saw The Dude as a fun character to be around but later on he got on the obnoxious side for me. Even so I didn’t expect him to be this low on the charts…

Does anyone have some ideas for other polls? I could put them up on http://notavillain.wikia.com/wiki/Not_A_Villain_Wiki and we can see what the results are.

I’ve added two polls to the wiki. One for the general alignment (will they be Hero or Villain) and one for the six colors (I have no idea what the colors mean but I’m guessing there are 6 sub alignments). Go over to the wiki if you want to vote.

I’m guessing D&D type, only kind I can think of. So, Chaotic/Neutral/Lawful Good on one side, Chaotic/Neutral/Lawful Evil on the other. The number of alignments works out.

That makes sense, I was thinking something similar. Although it does mean there is no room for those who are more on the neutral side. But it does make things easier in reference to the Hero/Villain question.

I’ll be a bit disappointed if this turns out to be the case. I’ve never been a fan of the “Lawful/Chaotic” scheme. Palladium Games had a more interesting and nuanced set of alignments, IMHO.

The chart says “heroes” vs. “villains,” not “good” vs. “evil.” They could be two teams more or less randomly defined, or they could be defined by whether or not they support TenKa. Do “villain” teams work together or fight with one another, both within the team and between teams? Do Hero teams always get along? I am somehow reminded of the theatrics of pro wrestling….

This isn’t D&D, where evil people likely will betray each other for gain at the moment. Its about trust and dedication to their goal, not alignment. But that means our protagonists will likely fight each other as much as their opponents in the beginning. Which will be true of any new team.
As to theatrics…that may be a reasonable way to gain or keep a following. Engineering drama like in pro wrestling.

I have the strangest feeling that Jane is actually Mina and Mae’s mom. Think about it. She said “leave her friends to me. I shall see to it personally” and then we immediately switch to a scene with Mina’s mom with Kleya. Jane has her two dolls… her two children… which might be a reference to her two daughters. Of course I could be completely nuts in my thinking ^_^

You aren’t the first to think so.

I think it’s impossible. Kleya came out of the game trials and immediately encountered Mina and Mrs. Lilly; Mrs. Lilly had been with her daughter, Mae, and found that her avatar was stalled, and gone to look for Kleya.

Kleya got out of the Game Trials at the same time as her opponent, Jane, did.

That doesn’t leave much room for this theory. The only way it could happen would be for Mina to be “in the know,” on her mother’s alter-ego, and keeping it from Kleya. Then she could have told her mother about Mae’s avatar’s state and met her mother’s avatar at the gate, and the two managed to quickly create a cover story and look for Kleya… though this seems implausible to me.

Implausible, yes. Impossible, no. Its very possible that if Jane is Mae’s mom, then she is not in her right mind. Desperate too. She might be doing things that are very dangerous for her to make sure her children are gonna be alright. Think things that could damage her already fragile mind and beleaguered body further. However, its more possible if that is the case that she would have accidentally offed herself then to have managed to rigged up something by chance that allows her such capability. But then stranger alignments of chance have happened in reality…so…

I noticed the hair colors on the dolls are right, and that scene cut seemed telling. I figure it could be.

But if it is true, I am VERY worried about a certain someone…

Or their dad.

I’m one of the silent thousand who found this comic by chance, playing on my phone. I’m an old gamer and love these characters and story. Keep up the great work.

Nice graph, but um, who is who?

The colors on the graph match the colors of their shirts.

The very first comment on this page explains which is which.

Hey, Danni should tell everyone she is the famous Danni! That should get her some interest. She could get a lot of sympathy if she tells them how much she wants to dance again, too.

I don’t think anyone in the younger generation even knows who Danni was or care about ballet should they know really what it entails. Which is part of her problem. She is trying to get what she needs by being what she was trained to be…before. The younger the audience the more we can assume they think what she can do is lame. We can assume those who survived likely fit one of these categories. A. Has wealth/resources in abundance prior to the End. B. Had skills/knowledge that made them desirable. C. Were fit enough to endure the punishment the new world they were living in was dishing out.
The first two categories, by their nature, are limited in numbers. Thus, most people fall into the third. The kind of people most likely to fit that category? Older teens to the full young adult range. Not a age bracket that is likely to appreciate the finer disciplines in general. Some exceptions…but most won’t care. They may have gotten used to the net being a major source of entertainment before the End. Post End…its likely even more true of all survivors they rely on the net for their escapism. Also…things that bring up the painful memory of a kinder world might not be looked well upon. Its a cruel new world. People may wish to forget anything from the old one.

Hmm, I wonder if they’ll use her fame as a dancer to boost her fame?

I doubt it… most people don’t really think of ballet as being cool. That and Something Else might work, though.

Okay, I have to applaud the writing justification here. Not only did you address how Danni’s ballet is going to showcase her moving FAR more gracefully and more entertaining than the others and delaying the reveal of The Dude’s fighting style, but you also put Kat in a position of danger, since she’s mostly only won by using her Specials.

Bravo.

i just wanted to thank Aneeka for this comic, its freaking awesome!! And i wanted to thank navert for the wiki, it must be hard to maintain…thank you again

Thanks

Woah, they have to do it alone? Poor Danni!

Woah, they go in Medias res? No! I need time to prepare for the Tutorial! 😀

What’s Esone?

Also, Congratulations to your success in your Art studies. It’s great that you work so hard to please us readers. 😉

There goes bandit singing, “I will survive.” Humor and survival maybe he can become good at traps, you know practical jokes.

Or maybe the dude will learn practical jokes from bandit.

I just finished reading through the whole archive for the first time, and just wanted to say that I’m really excited to see whatever comes next!

This comic is amazing. The story quickly pulled me deep. I read the first page several hours ago and couldn’t stop.

There’s some aspects of it that remind me of ‘Snow Crash’, one of my most favorite books, but it’s still very original. There’s only so many ways to depict virtual worlds.

Finishing the archive made me sad. I want more!

I love this. Found it last night, just caught up. Need to figure out the posting schedule but until then will check daily. Great art, engaging storyline, and all the mystery you can stand!

Updates are Tuesday and Friday. Used to be 2 comics a week, but now it’s two halves of a comic a week.

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 255