Queen's Reign: Posts & Discussion

[Reinhardt]

Understandable, considering there is a new family member in the house. Sounds like everything went well.

Anyway, looks like it was the queen in person after all. I must admit that I had hoped at least Samantha would be assimilated, but it seems like all the real action has been saved for the next issue (and maybe the alternative ending you mentioned once). No matter what happens, I only hope that Angela will be fully transformed in body and mind (along with her mother and girlfriend) instead of joining Casey's "family" of altered but non-assimilated members.

The doctor did probably not gain total control over the nannintes, but if his main goal was to break the queen's chains, it means there should be room for a finale "upgrade", where the queen herself and her drones are free to reprogram them the way they want, using their improved intellects and collective knowledge to do more than any human or original creators were ever capable of.

About the last issue, when Angela mentioned her dream it makes me think of Blade Runner's ending.

[FirstBorn]

Understandable, considering there is a new family member in the house. Sounds like everything went well.

Anyway, looks like it was the queen in person after all. I must admit that I had hoped at least Samantha would be assimilated, but it seems like all the real action has been saved for the next issue (and maybe the alternative ending you mentioned once). No matter what happens, I only hope that Angela will be fully transformed in body and mind (along with her mother and girlfriend) instead of joining Casey's "family" of altered but non-assimilated members.

-- Thanks! Yes, everyone is doing fine. Not quite sleeping through the night yet but that will come in time.

And yes- next issue will have a lot of action that (hopefully) everyone will enjoy. I'm still of two minds about the alternate endings. Although, one of the things I was very pleased with was how I managed to end this one right at the moment of choice. I had story-boarded that but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it happen.

This will allow me to branch my alternate endings off of the end of this chapter rather seamlessly. The only reason I'm hesitant is because in my head the story is done (has been for a month or three) so I don't know if hovering over this project vs. moving on to the next story (Actual Omega Unit stuff) would be better.

But never fear- the story will have at least one ending. The first one being the "official" one (my preference) but obviously if I make some alternates readers can feel free to chose whichever ending they prefer. Can't please everyone all the time, after all.

[kryton73]

-- Well... <.< - >.> I do hope you give me *some* credit here. I'll admit there's a bit more monologue in there, but there's a wee bit of teh sexah, yes? And a few answers to a few questions to boot, I'd wager. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, Kryton.

I can only hope that next month's *Finale* will better suit your pallet if this one leaves it feeling a bit stale. Let me know what you think.

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

I fully understand the need to move the story along and set things up for the finale but I was still looking forward to seeing more character transformations. Oh, well. Next month looks like it will be a good one. I do agree somewhat with Reinhardt in that it would be great to see Angela get a full conversion (I would love to see something new that we haven't yet seen before) but I would also like to see what Angela would be like as a Doctor a la Casey and friends because I find that transformation sequence, outfit, and persona quite sexy. Maybe that could be in one of the alternate endings if not the official ending.

Grats on the addition to your family, FirstBorn! Enjoy baby's first Christmas!

BTW, understand that I'm not really angry about this month's comic (I don't know how that came across over the forum). I am just stuck in anticipation of seeing what you came up with for Angela et al. A month just feels like an eternity right now.

[FirstBorn]

Grats on the addition to your family, FirstBorn! Enjoy baby's first Christmas!

BTW, understand that I'm not really angry about this month's comic (I don't know how that came across over the forum). I am just stuck in anticipation of seeing what you came up with for Angela et al. A month just feels like an eternity right now.

-- No fear, Kryton. I have pretty thick skin. Plus if you were angry about it there would probably have been a lot more curse words and or a deafening silence.

I had a pretty good idea you were mostly josh'n me. I'm not that sensitive. I was just returning the favor. Text can sometimes be unforgiving with transmitting sub-text and intent. But thanks for making sure. I appreciate the effort.

So- no feather's ruffled in either direction- and I can totally understand not wanting to wait for the next installment. I'm in the same boat for a few of the other artists here as well.

[Reinhardt]

Well, not sleeping is not always bad. It was thanks to sleep deprivation that Stephenie Meyer finally had the dram that gave her Twilight. Who says something similar can't happen again?

Your idea for possibly two endings explains why much of the action is saved for the next issue. Things often solve themselves when you move from idea of actual writing (I havn't written anything myself yet, but I have read other writers' comments about the subject).

So, it was only for psychological and human reasons that the queen manipulated Angela? If something unexpected happens, her downfall could be caused by her remaining humanity then. She has also already admitted that even if the new nannites will take away some of her chains, her queen persona has changed her too much to allow her to be what she would have become if she had been infected with the new ones from the beginning. If Angela comes to the conclusion that if a human who has not been infected yet or altered in the same manner will act more human, then maybe she can take up the fight against the queen in a new form, sacrificing herself. Or judging by her facial expression, it could be that she enjoyed the taste of power and pleasure the queen gave her when she modified her personality. Which again could be the intention. A new queen or an upgraded queen. No matter the outcome, the new drones should be interesting too. Perhaps that's the reason why Samantha is still human.

Some hope Angela will join Casey, others wish her to have a full treatment. I belongs to the latter and think the change of the body as well as the mind makes the modification even better. The reason is that I feel her transformation will otherwise be incomplete. Like a caterpillea who comes out of the pupae not as a butterfly, but just another caterpillar. Which is the same reason why I mentioned the stuff about replacing all human cells and DNA. Even if you can't go back, you can still push things forward. When you come to the point where there are no remains of the old organism back, you have come as far as you possibly can in that specific direction. Then the transformation would have been even more complete and further away from the starting point.

Nannites that invades a cell becomes a part of its organelles. If the nannites could replace all the organelles in the cell, and learn to maintain it without the help of the nucleus, that too could be removed and replaced. In the end, everything of the organic components would be gone. The brain and body would look more or less the same, but the building blocks would be nannites only. Which is why I made the comment about how the drones and the queen could update themselves one last time once they are free from their original programming and complete the physical metamorphosis.

I realize that even if you had the same ideas, it would be too long to include them all. But you also mentioned somewhere that a short epilogue was possible in the future. If that happens, what about a sequence that show how the whole colony has been taken over be the queen and her drones, but where many of the humans are still not assimilated? Instead they are held in captivity and used as guinea pigs, being turned into new and experimental forms of drones and in general tested with new nannites and technology in order to improve the new "race". And maybe something could have an unexpected side effect, or the opposite, that it's a huge success because total control or something has finally been achieved (but I assume some ideas can also be used in the upcoming Omega Units story).

[kryton73]

With one more day until Firstborn dazzles us with his climactic brilliance, here are my speculations/wishes for the ending and alternate endings:

Ending 1: The bad ending- Angela, knowing that she cannot let the nanobots get into the queen's hands, decides to inject herself with the nanos instead. Without any warning, Angela plunges the nano cylinder into her arm. The bots transform her body into the silver queen as previewed and Angela, recognizing her new power, quickly destroys the queen. Noticing the old collective trying to fight back while converting her mom to a queen, Angela decides to convert all of the old drones/minions to her own. While she is doing this, the new voices of her growing collective tell Angela that the queen did not modify the real Taylor, only clones, and the real Taylor is being kept in suspended animation back in the station. Angela rushes to the holding room, confident that she can have the love of her life back. But, after Angela removes the remaining black nanos from Taylor’s system returning her to how she was before being first infected, Taylor is horrified by Angela Queen and screams, “Get away from me, you monster!” Angela, enraged by Taylor’s reaction and intoxicated by the power of her new collective, then decides to force Taylor, and everyone else, to love her. Angela injects Taylor with silver nanos making her once again a doting companion then tells the collective to prepare to move on to the next station. All hail Angela Queen’s Reign. (This, I believe, would be the cannon ending)

Ending 2: The good ending- Angela, knowing that she cannot let the nanobots get into the queen's hands, decides to inject herself with the nanos instead. Without any warning, Angela plunges the nano cylinder into her arm. The bots transform her body into the silver queen as previewed and Angela, recognizing her new power, quickly destroys the queen. Seeing the collective attempt to convert Angela’s mom to a new queen, Angela destroys the old nanos in her mother’s body and returns her to her former state. Angela then does the same to all of the drones/minions, choosing not to assimilate them into a new collective. When Angela returns Nurse Ratchet to the original commander form, the commander tells Angela that Taylor is being held under suspended animation in the station. Angela rushes to Taylor and wipes all of the black nanos from Taylor’s body but Taylor screams in horror at Angela Queens form. Angela, realizing that the nanobots are too much power for anyone to have, decides to destroy the silver nanos as well, sacrificing herself in the process. Everyone else, on the other hand, get to live on their lives as they were before.

Ending 3: The super-bad ending- Angela, knowing that she cannot let the nanobots get into the queen's hands, decides to inject herself with the nanos instead. However, as Angela makes the motion to inject herself with the nanos, the queen stops Angela and puts her into blank state. The queen says, “I knew that you would make the same choice that I did so long ago” and then injects herself with the new nanos converting her to the silver queen in the cover. She then converts all of the drones to silver drones and has Angela converted to one of Casey’s OPS’s. Converted Angela and converted Taylor then have sex bringing things back full circle while the rest of the collective prepares to take on the next station. All hail the Queen’s Reign. ( I really hope to see this as an alternate ending. I want to see what Angela would look like as an OPS and then the scene with Angela and Taylor (now Carrie) afterwards would be really hot!)

[FirstBorn]

Hey guys, just one more day until the story posts. But before I start quoting from the above posts let me give you a smidge of a warning.

You know how I said that this next episode would be the finale'? Well... Turns out- the Finale is too big to fit into just one chapter. What I *can* promise you (a whole day in advance, right?) is that it is *NOT* another chapter of pure exposition. There is some action. And some of "teh sexah" in there too. Its just... well... to long.

But- I do hope what you see will allow you to find it in your hearts to bear out the wait for (hopefully just?) one more chapter after this before we get into some alternative endings/what-ifs (that I can force myself to do).

We'll all just have to wait till tomorrow to find out what all of that intentionally vague stuff actually means.

Now. Kryton, Reinhardt. Bring it in guys. Come on. ./Man-hug

Seriously. It makes me smile to read your theories and thoughts as to what's motivating the characters and what might be coming next.

here are my speculations/wishes for the ending and alternate endings:

-- Love it. Three endings. And all of them start with Angela trying to keep the silver nannites from the Queen. Well done. But you couldn't think of any where all of the Queen's attempts at undermining her humanity had succeeded? Where she finally realized the hopelessness of the situation and handed them over? ... /ponders. Nah. You're right.

What I can tell you is: None of your three endings hit the nail on the head. Of course, that doesn't tell you how close you might have come (except for Ending 3- that one is really close to a possible alternate, yes)

Nannites that invades a cell becomes a part of its organelles. If the nannites could replace all the organelles in the cell, and learn to maintain it without the help of the nucleus, that too could be removed and replaced. In the end, everything of the organic components would be gone. The brain and body would look more or less the same, but the building blocks would be nannites only. Which is why I made the comment about how the drones and the queen could update themselves one last time once they are free from their original programming and complete the physical metamorphosis.

-- I feel you Reinhardt. I really do. And if this was a hand drawn comic, or just prose that would TOTALLY happen. But if that were true I wouldn't be the one doing it. Poser gives artists a *lot* of freedom to do what they want to do. But it also comes with a **LOT** of limitations. At least, if you want to maintain any semblance of "conformity" within the characters. The potential of the nannites to become massive and completely inhuman is inherently there, yes. But I have to have the right models to make it look right in Poser- and I have to SKIN then well enough to match. afterwards. I am moderately good in Photoshop. Better than a rank novice, certainly, but there are artists out there who leave me in the DUST- even just with respect to "painting" textures. I give them their props. That **** is hard. But don't take this as me poo-poo'ing all that you've said. You've been right more often than wrong. And I think you'll be seeing at least one of your thoughts before we truly reach the end.

As for the collective in general. One way or another it is going to go through a metamorphosis, certainly. All will be assimilated. Resistance, is futile.

Keep the comments coming. I love the attention. And don't worry about tomorrow's post. Its ready for posting once the hour arrives- so watch this space.

[kryton73]

Firstborn, I'm impatiently waiting to see what you have up your sleeve for Angela et al. I hope that that we get to see some full-blown transformations/conversions this week. It would be a bummer if all of that got pushed into next month. Fighting and "teh sexah" are great but it's your transformations that put your comics (along with Uzobono's) on my must follow list. Indeed, it was the inventive transformations/conversions of Sir Willoughby that started my subscription to hipcomix back before mccomix was born.

I'm sure to have more to say after the comic is posted. I've reinforced my tables this time just in case I have a repeat reaction from last month

[Reinhardt]

No reason to complain about one more chapter (or possibly two) if things really starts to happen now and all the action wouldn't fit into a single one. But I hope we will see Sam again soon. When she wakes up, could it be that she has returned to "normal" again for a brief moment before being "rewarded"?

And maybe the other posters in this thread will show up again now when it's getting closer to the end. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BVvdYuQCAAAFOTC.jpg

As for the collective in general. One way or another it is going to go through a metamorphosis, certainly.

Interesting, and not something I'm gonna try to guess what is right now.

I understand why it's hard to give the drones and queen a design that is more alien that what it already is when using poser. But what I was thinking in my last post was mostly about changes on the cellular level, which could be described rather than shown. That wouldn't require more than some minor changes, like skin tone. But from what you are saying, that too represents more work than what I was aware of. But if you have some ideas that can not be included in the story due to the limitations of poser, what about an alternative ending posted as a synopsis on the discussion board instead? Or maybe some others could post their own idea for an alternative ending once the official version is out.

[FirstBorn]

Once again I am proud to present Chapter 25 of The Queen's Reign!

Click HERE to Begin!

Synopsis:
Angela is about to make a deal with the Devil. Or is she. She has a choice to make. Give in and give the Queen her special package, or try and fight back and face inevitable capture and assimilation. Either way, the Queen wins and she has failed not just her family but the entire human race. So there has to be another option. They say go with the devil you know, but in this case just about anything else would be preferable- right? The only thing that can hope to win against a Queen... is another Queen. In for a penny, in for a pound. And so the end... is (almost) here.

This was intended to be the finale. But things ran a little long. Don't worry- there's more to come!

Enjoy- and now the replies.

No reason to complain about one more chapter (or possibly two) if things really starts to happen now and all the action wouldn't fit into a single one. But I hope we will see Sam again soon. When she wakes up, could it be that she has returned to "normal" again for a brief moment before being "rewarded"?

-- Don't worry. Sam will have more of a guest staring role next chapter, if you will.

But what I was thinking in my last post was mostly about changes on the cellular level, which could be described rather than shown.

-- I get that. But as the story has progressed I've tried to move *away* from the use of the "narration box" in leu of showing/saying it in character. There will be some mention of the changes, yes. But i'm trying to not turn the finale into more exposition.

Given the fact that I don't intend to revisit this storyline once its finished (what more will there be to do?) I might be open to a Q&A thread that gives a small peek behind the curtain. I'm not promising to answer any and all questions- don't want to ruin the mystique... or expose the number of plot holes I missed. But its a thought I will entertain for now.

And....... a teaser for NEXT CHAPTER (hopefully the real Finale):

[Reinhardt]

Hmm, did this chapter leave everybody speechless?

Angela looks really different from the old queen (and obviously likes her new self), almost like an elf queen, and you can still see it's her. And from the look of it, the old queen could end up as a drone herself. But if the queen is assimilated while there are still black drones around, I suppose a new black queen could be born when the old one goes away. If that's the case, all the black drones should probably be assimilated before something happens to the queen. Unless Angela automatic takes her place if she is connected to the old network as well.

So there will be three types of "ranks"; queen, commanders and drones? Then there is still her mother who appears to be a half-drone of something. Will Casey really be deleted, or is it meant to scare her? After all, it's not her own fault as she is just following her new programming, and another reprogramming could turn her less psychopathic. Does it also mean that those who gets the "doctor treatment" are not really corrupted, but deleted/killed and taken over by a mental copy of Casey? Though Angela's mother and Taylor seems to be both corrupted and intact. Would it be possible for the commanders and other chosen who are not drones to be fully assimilated in body, but who keeps more of their original personality intact along with other physical traits that makes them different from the conventional drones?

It would have been interesting to see what would happened if the queen had gotten the nannites, but with the new queen, there will be a lot more changes and action to occur judging from what happened in this chapter.

While I liked seeing how she turned out in the VR-place, I'm looking forward see what is going to happen when she returns to the "real" world again. As for further questions, I think I will wait till the story is complete.

Tayler looks almost like a superheroine in the poster for the last chapter. And if it's not the last one, I prefer to see an extra chapter than just one more that feels too short for its content.

[kryton73]

Firstborn, the anticipation is killing me. Let us see the culmination of your two year opus! Let us see the end of the Queen that you have had bottled up inside you for so long! Let the sound and the fury begin! . . . and then next month let us see other possible sexy endings as well

[thetitan]

Considering the last episode was supposed to be uploaded yesterday and it is not uploaded, and today's site update has been uploaded, I am worried of when we will read this final episode. Any news would be appreciated.

[Champ]

I'm sure its a matter of post work, polishing off every detail for the last episode. This is common for anyone that wants to end their story perfectly. Waiting a little longer will be ok, FB has come through for everyone in each chapter and I'll bet my computer the last one will be awesome.

[FirstBorn]

I'm sure its a matter of post work, polishing off every detail for the last episode. This is common for anyone that wants to end their story perfectly. Waiting a little longer will be ok, FB has come through for everyone in each chapter and I'll bet my computer the last one will be awesome.

-- Thank you for the defense Champ. Considering the traffic I thought to update this thread now instead of waiting.

Yes, the chapter has been delayed but only by a day. It will go live later today after my "editor" has a chance to make sure I don't embarrass myself with spelling mistakes.

As for the polish and shine- no artist is every happy with their own work and this is true for me as well. I *could* have stretched this out into yet another chapter just to squeeze in all the details I wanted. But I thought that while that might make *me* happy it would also really screw the timing and flow (and I bumped that ugly enough with the lead up).

So- yes, its coming. Yes, today. Hold your horses (if not your breath) and you shall see the end... of the end... I promise.