All right everyone. Here is the promised post to let you know what’s been going on. First of all, I just want to thank everyone for their patience in me dealing with what has been a hectic, yet wonderful, yet harrowing, yet joyous period of my life.
I work in the financial sector and as stated in a different post, I had a job opportunity come up that would not normally come up. This lead to me working a lot of overtime but it’s furthered my career and been great. That said, it did mean I’d get home and just didn’t have the creative energy to write so I just played games instead. It wasn’t the mature decision but it’s what I was doing. I think it’s important for me to be honest with everyone. Also, becasue it seems peopel were curious about it, it wasn’t Breath of the Wild. I don’t own that game (though my roommate has played the absolute HONEY out of that game so I assume it must be good).
However, right as that opportunity started wrapping up and I anticipated having more time another death struck my family. This time it wasn’t the tragedy that my cousin had but it still required a lot of work. My grandfather passed away. Now, this would normally be a shocking and depressing time but my grandfather has had heart issues for 20 years. Frankly, he should have died, literally, five times before this. Even at the end, he was supposed to pass, my entire family went out to see him… and he didn’t pass away. He took another week to finally give out. He was lucid throughout and went very peacefully. It was an amazing experience that brought our family so much closer together and it’s really impossible for me to feel sad about it because we had so much extra time with him that we never should have had. How can I feel sad when we feel incredibly blessed to have all the etra time he gave us?
That did, however, have some harsh realities that came along with it. My grandmother has advanced dementia. So his passing meant, for all intents and purposes, their lives were both over as she couldn’t realistically live alone in their house. That began the arduous task of trying to get her into a memory care home and the even longer process of clearing out the house that they’ve lived in for the past 40 years. When you live in a house that long… yeah. Let’s just say they were sort of settled in. And, as one of the oldest grandchildren, a lot of that work fell on me. While that task was a bit more morose at times (I felt like I was constantly invading my grandparents’ privacy even though I conciously knew that wasn’t the case) it also was an amazing experience. To see their life laid out in all these little things… amazing. It wasn’t easy but it was an incredible experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Plus, on a more superficial level, it meant I got to take their old Game Boy and Super Nintendo that they bought for the grandkids to play on as we grew up visiting their house every summer. The bonus of being the one who goes through the stuff first is you get to decide who gets the coolest stuff >:) Muwahahahaha!
So yeah, I own an old, brick sized Game Boy again. So I have that going for me. Which is nice.
So now I’m back at work but, if I’m honest, I’m still a bit emotionally drained from all this. I’ve been avoiding writing because I just don’t have my creative capacitors stored up at all. I need some help with that. Comments from you guys about the story really help get the creative juices flowing for me. So, maybe, if you could take 3-5 minutes to just leave a comment (or email at taralynnand@gmail.com) and maybe just list maybe something about MGP that really hooked you, an interaction you thought was funny or well written, and/or what you’re really looking forward to seeing, I think that will help get my batteries recharged. You guys being excited tends to have a feedback effect on me.
In the mean time, we did get a lore commission done by a new artist named Amenoosa who was recommended to be by a reader. We went back a bit and did an image of the Chaco-phagial therapy session with Vivian and Robynne. I hope you enjoy it.
To make up for the long absence, I’ve got a bigger commission coming from Rezuban i hope you all enjoy. I don’t know when it will be done but when it is, I’m sure you’ll love it!
Looking forward to getting back to work!
Taralynn
PS: I’m sure a bunch of you will like to give me your condolances for my grandpa and such but there really is no need for that. Seriously, we as a family have completely mourned him already and thinking about it sort of stunts my recharging. I’d rather focus on getting me back to work, but thanks anyways for the condolances 🙂
Heyyyyy! Good to hear you’re okay! We missed you!
She’s alive… SHE’S ALIVE!!
This knowledge warms the cavernous space where my heart should be.
So glad your not dead ^_^ and hopefully life will calm down a bit for you 🙂
Well. I dunno about all these other weirdos, but I’m really looking forward to seeing what Rob was planning just before you left us hanging from that there cliff in the last chapter.
Also. Old game systems are way cool. I know full well that games from systems that old can be emulated full speed on just about everything these days, but sometimes, it’s not just about the game, sometimes, you really do want the full nostalgia experience. PITAs and all. Remember blowing on your cartridges and cartridge slots EVERY time you want to play? And some carts CONSTANTLY losing their save memory? Ahhhh… yes… Those were some good times. 😉
The save memory thing was more of an issue with the NES though than the GB and SNES. Memory technologies had advanced JUST enough between those gens to mostly eliminate that issue by the time those consoles were made. The original Game Boy was really just a shrunk down NES with newer technologies but the same architecture, just, smaller. The SNES of course jumped to a whole new architecture. 16-bit was glorious back then.
I would like Robyns uncle make an appearance while she is in hospital recovering
I guess nothing can be 100% bad right. I know that feel, my maternal grandfather had an accident at age 70 when I was 2, taking out mostrar of the mobility ofertas his legs. 18 years later, he fell out, and there he stood, a long time fighting against having his destroyed leg cut. He ironically passed out after we resigned and told him. “Okay, you win” Stubborness can Maker you’re survive things that you’re wouldn’t believe you’re can survive. Guess we Catalans have stubborness imprinted in our DNA.
Also, that lucrative salvage reminds me of the Genesis my caretaker lent to us years ago and is now undeservedly abandoned witg my grandmother, unused. I hope that once I move to my own apartament, I get to retrieve it alongside my Wii, instead of myself parents sending them to the trash like they did with the CD add-on. Unforgivable, I know.
But getting my uncle’s abandoned Super Nintendo, that one sitting on my other grandparents house, will be much harder…
I have been wondering, I guess that
the Spirit Sticks have a whitelist to avoid excessive censoring? Because not being able to say words like GlASSes could easily give away there identity.
100% unrelated, but… Could you enable edit on coments? Auto-corrector mistakes get embarangelcakeing…
Just saw the picture. It looks amazing indeed, but…
Not want to be an angelcakehole or anything, but I think there is something wrong with Rob’s feet. I think the feet that is seen should be the left one instead.
Updated comment for the updated status. Glad to hear things are going well for you despite your recent losses. Take the time you need.
@SJMistery:
Oh my god, you’re right! I’ve heard of having two left feet, but two right feet?
The artist is aware of the discrepancy with the foot and has made a comment about correcting it.
I’m glad you are back. I have definitely missed your updates and have bean checking back every week with my fingers crossed that you would be back.
as to why I like MGP it’s that you have what a lot of online writers fail to have and that’s characters most end up with stereotypes or archetypes and because of that as a reader you can get invested in them just the same as you can with better tv shows and published books
Honestly I really enjoyed your story about your grandparents. Anyway welcome back. I’m really looking forward to the big monster fight so I’ll probably be checking the site daily.
What makes me care about MGP is the casual but very real thought you put into what characters are soing and feeling and why. Putting the effort in to really think things through and put yourself in the character’s position is rarer than it should be. You do it consistantly, naturally, without trying to hard at it and making things all weird or distorted feeling. That makes MGP a gem.
Taking the time to show Rob adapting, to show some downtime, to show that Rob has a life outside the plot’s story, and so does everyone else, that really helps keep the story real too.
I do admit, Ive been itching to see Rob in action again though. Im looking forward to see his plan, same as the rest of us.
I like the story because they are trying to make sure the past does not happen again. Even it means rebelling against their home and others in the past life’s. Fighting more with brains than power to get the job done. Robynne is refreshing character as are the others. A mix of a lot original ideas with parody of other anime, sci fi shows, and other stories. I like how their is three enemies/groups the spirt guard have to watch out for all coming at one time. Good balance between the superpower times and life in general.
My grandmother passed last December and we’ve really only finished dealing with the house recently. I can sympathize with your situation. You have my best wishes and take the time you need.
As for aspects of the story, I’ll admit that I’d like to see Rob and Ang run the group through some transformed team training at some point. If they need a practice target, I bet Viv could dress Noriko in a silly costume and she could play keep away.
I also would enjoy watching Rob and Viv experiment with their powers a bit. Rob’s clothes changed when she transformed the first time. Does that always apply? What would happen if she was holding some of her old clothing? That sort of thing. I’m sure there are other hacks and exploits to look into, as well as just transforming, thinking about Empathokinetics a bunch, and writing down notes.
Good to see you back, Taralynn. Take your time. Real life always comes first…
I look forward to more stories by you Taralynn. I really enjoy the Villain in Distress story and hope you continue to write both ViD and MGP. Best wishes and keep pounding.
SNES, huh? Nice find. I was a Sega kid growing up (go Sonic!) so I never had many Nintendo consoles. But I always love going back and enjoying those old gems from time to time.
As for what hooked me on the story, there are a few things. First of all, it was the premise… I found out about the story after losing half my waking hours on TVtropes one day, and finding a good TG story is really difficult. I like the you delve into the social and psychological aspects of the unexpected gender swap, for instance. I also like the anime-style magical girl setup, and chose to embrace it fully while also acknowledging how ridiculous the idea typically is. The way the characters handle things makes me feel like this is how it would happen if such a thing were ever to occur in real life. The story has a great balance of taking important things seriously as well as sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek humor. I never get tired of either because it never feels like either one is piled on. And, finally, I just enjoy your writing style. It gives plenty of information to build the scene, all without drowning in description like other authors (Tolkien, for instance). Oh, and the characters! You do a wonderful job of using archetypes while making them feel like real people, which many writers fall flat on. Your dialogue writing is fantastic!
As for what I want to see… well, I definitely want to second everything Wusemajor said. After the battle, more shenanigans with Corey, Eli, and Vivian giving poor Rob some good/frustrating times (they always make me laugh and brighten my day). Though for right now, seeing Serenity and Charity pull through this battle is what I’m really focused in on right now. We haven’t seen Charity do much fighting yet, and with only the two of them I can see some epic possibilities for them to strategize and have to work hard for the win.