Annotated BBWTE 14
Yep, here we go.
It’s a lot easier to enjoy Frigg’s antics once we realize this shock is going to keep those antics from going anywhere regrettable. I can even feel good for her in panel 3, laughing like a lover at play instead of screaming at the void where Rachel was.
It’s tough sometimes to know when to mislead readers and when to give them a sort of cognitive reward for paying attention. I guess we could’ve given WAV a nine-eyed face that didn’t resemble Best’s in any way, trying to pull off a double-bluff until the eventual reveal of his identity when he encounters Byron. We didn’t even have to remove his helmet (though that’d mean this scene would obvi play out differently). But that would’ve struck Flo as not playing fair, and if we didn’t play fair with our mysteries, y’all would get less invested in trying to figure them out. You were…probably…right, guys! It was Best! Probably!
I mean, like, 90% of male characters who weren’t already disproven (and a few of the girls, too) were called ‘Best’s Alt’…it only stands to reason that ONE of the guesses would prove correct. (Although, as I think I said back when he was first introduced in the reposts, this is the only one I didn’t hate, because it actually made sense in both a narrative and a character sense, so the fact that it turned out to be correct was a double good thing to my mind – I was right about that, and (serious) ‘Best’s alt!’ stuff would finally stop…)
OMG! WAV is Spider-Car!
Maybe because I wasn’t playing try to find Best’s Alt, but it never occured to me until this page that WAV was wearing a helmet. I just assumed he had a robot head.
I wasn’t playing “find Best’s alt” either, and actually I really didn’t want him back. But WAV’s character is just so different that this was probably the only way to get me to not mind him. Actually, at this point I was hoping he’d come back as a less-annoying person.
Of course that turned out to be just temporary, but then the annoyance he provided afterwards fortunately also didn’t last too long, so I’m fine with it, and it’s good to have one person in the main cast who hasn’t grown half as far as he rest have. Of course it would also have been a bit weird to have Best disappear, then come back as WAV, and keep WAV’s character but … oh I don’t know. Maybe he could have remembered the shit he did as Best, instantly recognize what an arsehole he was, and then get on everyone’s nerves because he doesn’t want to stop apologizing? Just bring him back on the opposite end of the spectrum :)