The Letters Page Fan Personalities

By this point we've collected a lot of people on the Letters Page who've decided to have some RPing fun with their questions, so let's discuss! Which personalities are your favorites? What do you headcanon the backstories of the various personalities as being? Any speculation on which regulars, if any, might be responsible for any of the personalities?

Personally I kinda want to join the Cult of Gloom. They seem rather personable and persuasive, and it's certainly true that it's better to owe your soul to the Cult of Gloom than to Matt, I say.

Cult of Gloom is Ronway there is no doubt in my mind. 

Absolutely.

There is considerable doubt in my mind as to that claim.

There is also doubt in my mind as to this Matchstickman character, I know I have asked questions but I have no idea if those answered were actually the ones I asked! Too much time has passed since I asked them.

Same, I've only had one of my questions show up on air at this point, but I know I asked a ton about Sky-Scraper, Tempest, the Sentinels. I have no idea what any of them were at this point, though I have some vague ideas

Apparently, because I've submitted questions at various points in time, I used at least three different names... 

Yeah, you know, my usual ridiculousness. 

I'm using two different names.  I decided that I wanted Arcanist Lupus questions to be exclusively limericks, but limerick questions are hard, so whenever I have a non-limerick question I ask it under the name Rad Possum.

Of course, I think that there are still a few Aranist non-limerick questions floating around in their system from before I decided this, but oh well.

I just ask questions under my real name since it seemed easier than potential stumbles over pronouncing my username.

But that's the best part!

My favorite is Omnitron P.I., which I think was a happy accidental development that he turned into a Private Investigator. It sort of reminds me of the book 'The Automatic Detective', where a Destructo-Bot gains sentience and becomes a P.I. And that's the LEAST insane thing that happens in that story...

Yes! O-P.I. is one of my favorites.

Also, Arcanist, I now before your limericks.

Thanks!  They're tricky, but a lot of fun.

That last one where I decided that I wanted to rhyme "Akash'Thriya" was particularly interesting.

Ooh, I like that one. A. Lee Martinez is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

I wish I was that creative.

After the Akash’isode, I really want to know if the Cult of Gloom has been sending snail-mail letters. At one point, Christopher mentioned getting a question from them by actual e-mail, but now it seems to have gone back to vellum and wax seals…

If I had to hazard a guess-

1) It's hard to send physical objects through an E-mail no matter how magical they or the sender are, and

2) Have you ever tried hexing an E-mail? Yeah, those guys who make chain-letter have it down to an almost science, but they aren't exactly gonna share their secrets...

I say till the real cult of gloom steps up I will still believe it is you.

I asked a few question but no personality. I missed out on asking questions on my Bae NightMist but oh well. I am going to make it up on La Comodora/Capitan. So many questions.

I am at the point of wanting to know about the comics writers. C&A have been gymnastics to make everything fit.

Ex. Re fought the ennad once but it was before and after Vengance. Then they said the first time did it count because the recycled story after Venganxe was the one everyone remembers. . .

La Capitan appears first on 650 but Venganxe shows up I 610 and the sentinels get together because of her. But the SW sentinels show up before vengeance 300s.
Want to see them square that peg.

The team we have a deck of fully formed to take on La Capitan but there was a time where it was just Mainstay, Medico, and Idealist.  In fact Tachyon takes out Writhe during his initial criminal career in Freedom Five # 626

Seems like the sentiment in recent threads here and on Reddit is that cutesy RPing questioners are fun as an overall concept but become not-fun when they take too much time away from answering questions.

I think it is funny but i much prefer their banter for a time waste over this war. If they would pick one I would be fine.

Maybe their should a % of wasting time per episode allowed.

If we only sent in questions without personality I think the show would be much poorer, much shorter* and not be as fun for Adam and Christopher to do.

*And I'm not sure by what measure people are saying time is being wasted by the personalities. Aside from Christopher and Adam's time there's no limit on how long the podcast could be and the questions are chosen by Christopher and Adam, if the question wasn't asked then it's probably because the answer wasn't very interesting to them or wasn't asked in an entertaining way.

FYI: Matchstickman is right. Asked Adam about this here at Gen Con, and he confirmed the flavorful questions are not taking away from answering other questions, just adding to the length of the episodes.

Can you make this into some sort of stickied post please mods? 

The two general category of complaints I've seen:

1. People worried that the extra time taken means that questions get cut as not having enough time to ask them.

2. People saying that listening to 2+ hours of podcast is a big time commitment as a listener already without some of that length ending up being devoted to not-Sentinels-Lore stuff.

I don't think I've seen anyone saying they think nobody should ask any personality questions at all, I should clarify. More a matter of moderation.

(Also maybe I should clarify I personally don't have any huge problem with it so far, but it wouldn't be very accurate to report only my opinions in a thread I started on a topic…)

I'm happy with the personalities appearing in the podcasts, they make it all that much more fun.

And if you think about it, the episode lengths have been increasing because the character's we're covering are becoming more and more important to the over-arching timeline of the Multiverse arc of the Sentinels mythos, and therefore there's more stories and events connected to these characters, meaning longer and longer episodes.

A few minutes of silly personalities in the questions section comparativley aren't going to boost episodes that much.

And if it makes Adam and Christopher have a bit of fun in the process, then why not? :)

I don't have a problem with the personalities, I think the Cult of Gloom is hilarious, and I now want a villain/environment deck of some kind that involves the Gloom/Biomancer war.

That said, I feel like sometimes they "waste" time on questions that were already answered. Sometimes these are asked by the character questioners, sometimes they're not, but if we already heard in the backstory introduction who Major Flay was and their whole story, why do they then need to read a question about who Major Flay was and say, "Well, we went over this already."

On a different note, while I do like the question-asker-character interactions, I feel like it kind of shuts out new questions. If I ask a question and the Cult of Gloom asks the same one, I feel like my letter isn't going to be read. The podcast could do with diversifying when it comes to multiples of the same question.

They did say on a previous episode(I THINK the Tachyon episode, but don't quote me on that) the more interestingly written questions will usually win out over other questions that just blatantly ask questions.

Along with Phantom, I can't remember the specific episode, but they did specify that with the volumn of questions they've been getting, having your question read means asking a good/interesting/well-worded question.  Assuming you're asking the same question as someone else, at least.

Granted, you could have a very good/interesting/well-worded question, also asked by the "Cult of Gloom", and then your question doesn't get read in favor of advancing the "Gloom plot" or whatever.  But if you had other questions not covered by the Cult, it seems like your question would probably still be read/answered.

Personally, I've been quite enjoying the RP-style questions.  I listen to every episode once to get the lore, and all my subsequent listens (I've listened to every episode at least twice, some probably as many as 10 times) are because I find the episodes funny/amusing to listen to.  The RP-style questions have been adding quite a bit to the amusement factor, and I'm more likely to re-listen to a longer, funnier episode than I am a shorter, less funny one.

What I'm reading from this discussion:

Hey Powerhound, wanna conspire some "letters page personalities" so we can start getting your questions answered again? 

I know the feeling. I'm decent with data analysis but have pretty much zero creative talent.

Hmmm…

Just for reference, I tried to time the episode, and I measured the amount of shtick at about 11 minutes of the episode.  That's a pretty fuzzy number because of the issues in measuring where 'shtick' starts and ends, but it gives a good idea of how much time is being taken up, I think.

I love the shtick, but I think that sometimes they drag on too long on specific topics.  Peppering it about is fine, but I personally would like them to avoid extended digressions.

Incidentally, I sent in a question stack with an "personality" intro that didn't make it into the podcast at all.  I suspect that there is an iceberg of shtick that we are not seeing.  I do hope, however, that new personalities aren't being entirely shut out by the existing ones.

If anyone’s worried about their question not being answered because the Cult of Gloom asked the same one…just impersonate the Cult of Gloom next time!

I mean clearly that's the next stage in Biomancer's side of the war, right?

For what it's worth, given the 105 minute runtime of the latest episode and assuming that your tally is correct, the "schtick" takes up over 10% of the episode.  That's proportionally a pretty significant chunk of time.  

Again, I don't want to poop on people's parades–I do find the comedy amusing, but it's not what I'm coming to the podcast for.  I want to hear about Sentinels lore.  And if 10% of that time or more is actively not that, I think there's a valid complaint to be made.

I come for the lore too but their personalities is what keeps me coming back just as much.   It's their podcast they are freely spending their time and effort on.  If they want to keep up with the schtick so be it.  

+1

It was fun when it started, but the thought of everyone turning their question into a roleplay opportunity makes me groan.  I hope they can keep a lid on it.

I honestly enjoy the schtick, It's not precisely sentinels lore but it's usually funny so i don't mind. I do wish they could do both, but they know the questions and honestly if Christopher and Adam (damn that song) enjoy making the podcast as much as we enjoy listening to it it will be better overall regardless of how much schtick time they spend. Then again I've only had the one question on air so, not much Schtick to be had from me.

The Cult of Gloom is doing an AMA https://www.reddit.com/r/sentinelsmultiverse/comments/6v59bc/dont_turn_that_frown_upside_down_turn_it_into/

Frankly, I really enjoy the RPing. It means people are really getting involved and engaged with the podcast, which is all good in my opinion!

I’ve only had one question of mine answered (why did Akash’Bhuta curse Michael Conteh) but I’m not too worried about it. I have a couple coming up for later episodes that may get in.

I think the most recent (Ambuscade) episode hit something of a breaking point. According to Reddit, at least, even some of the people involved in the growing RP feel it's getting out of hand. Particularly the long paragraph by Princess Cool, which appears to have gone into a lot of stuff that was just contained in a Reddit thread.

I'm all for the RP and I think it's fun, but I think it should be more or less self-contained to what's in the podcast. I don't want to have to do a bunch of homework reading reddit to get the cavalcade of injokes that are spawning.

Sounds like I need to send in a letter to the editor to express concerns about it. Anyone know the best way to reach Trevor?

Joking aside, the Ambuscade episode is the first time I’ve seriously considered skipping to the future section (knowing I might miss some cool history or lore) when I heard the phrase “two page letter” and it was followed by Adam making the joke about “Guess we get to deal with another one of these” in the Slaughterhouse Six episode.

I’m all for people having fun, but when it possibly goes to the expense of other people’s enjoyment, it’s time to at least reel it back a little.

Yeah, while ironically the original RPing Cult of Gloom folks kept it mostly to the usual light touch levels, everyone else started getting into a little bit of secondhand cringe territory for me. And I say this as someone who used to be enjoying the whole deal when it was a little less overdone.

I agree, it's getting a bit much.  A quick introduction, limerick, or silly accent is one thing.  Paragraphs of this stuff is really distracting.  Some of this is basically fan fiction, and some of it, like Princess Cool's last letter, isn't even fan fiction about Sentinels.

The Slaughterhosue Six Interlude was much better in regards to the personalities. 

What about two limericks?  

I agree, it's getting to be that I dread the questions section because I know the kernels of actual information will be packed in so many layers of useless fluff.

I've been trying to go the route of asking unique questions instead. It seems to mostly be going well...

That first one nearly ended me. It was amazing and easily the best thing to come out of the meta-meta-whatever is going on.

I'll echo other comments - I enjoyed things like the writing in the voice of the Cult of Gloom because (A) it's relevant to Sentinels and (B) it was mostly self-contained. Building up a history of the interactions between letter writers isn't a good thing for people who aren't involved in every facet of online discussion or who just want to pick up an episode here or there on their favorite characters. I feel like the whole thing has gotten way out of hand and it detracted from my enjoyment of the Haka and Ambuscade episodes.

I tried for 2 hours to say this with a limerick, but alas, I have not the skill of Arcanist Lupus Also, blah blah blah, everyone else is pretty right, come on, Princess Cool. A little much (not angry, just everyone else here have a good point.)

FWIW, Princess Cool already promised to, er, cool off a bit on Reddit. I don't want to discourage her too much; I need her to ask all the shipping questions so I don't have to.

The meta of the Letters Page

Has people who choose to wage

wars with their verse

but all of them worse

than the one who's a wolf that's a mage.

*golf clap*

Well played, WalkingTarget.

Yeah, some of these have gotten a little out of hand, but the actual questions being asked are usually good ones, at least.

A limerick by Lupus adapted

To issue threats that were very well crafted

So funny it caused

The episode to be paused

Whole minutes went by while I laughted

Word of the day

Yeah, it's possible that I cheated a little bit in order to get that to work.

Which day? The day it was posted or pointed out?

$50 on someone blaming the SW Sentinels  episode's length on fan personalities in the questions section. :P

Not complaining (as I haven't even gotten to the questions section), but if they were looking to trim something off a three hour podcast, Powerhound has claimed that they've edited parts out of his letters before. 

And yet there was like, maybe two Biomancer clones, and they were hilarious, and even a letter distinctly not about meta-plot! Christopher and Adam will fill up podcasts with more lore than we can give them roleplaying!

I finally got two of my questions read in the most recent episodes.

Up till now I have tried writing both as myself and in a persona. My persona is usually as a version of Guise.

(Guise as a carnival fortune teller, the "We are Guise fanclub", and my most recent Guise Noir, hard boiled (not like an egg) PI )

I guess it really does come down to if the question is something they want to answer. I have asked questions before that were not read but also weren't asked/answered by other people's questions

I feel I crossed the line with the whole info dump from my Reddit AMA. There's definitely a character limit on these things in my opinion.

We generally don't find our limits until we cross them.

I love questions asked in character, and I hope that continues.

Yeah, I get a kick out of them -- but agreed, when it reaches the point Christopher and Adam don't know what's being referred to, that's getting a little too self-indulgent.

That said, please keep up the in-character stuff, Princess Cool, I enjoy your questions.

I... Just wanted to contribute. I'm gonna attempt to add a sort of personality to the letters page (not sure if I'll get answers) but I won't really have much meta plot. Mostly questions with some funny banter but occasional revo Corp stuff.

Don't worry about the meta-plot.  A good question is worth a thousand gimmicky intros.

...Says the person posting solely in limericks.

i asked… About sentinel comics movies. And a whole bunch of other stuff that's more editor notesy.

If only.

I've got one question sent in the aftermath of the Ra episode which began simply, "Dear gentlemen."

There's a reasonable chance it could still be argued to fit into the Apostate episode this week, but otherwise it is likely to go forever unanswered.

I can't really complain. Mine's just "hello, intrepid creators", and for the most part the only times I've had a question skipped is when it got answered in the backstory or someone else asked it too.

Most of my letters are addressed simply, and sometimes I just ask a question with no preamble or anything. I think about 75% of my questions have been read, and I believe all but one or two were answered in other questions anyway. So good questions will be answered, unless they’re avoiding answering for a specific reason (usually spoilers).

…On the other hand, 100% of my RP letters have been read, so there’s that.

Goddamnit, the ONE TIME I have a good idea, someone else has to share it with the world.

Heh! Sorry, dude, I just figure… if I was Biomancer, that's what I would do. It'd be just the right mix of jerk troll and evilly effective.

How do we know you AREN'T Biomancer???

Oh I see how this works. You encounter someone who is weirdly obsessed with the Virtuosos of the Void and their powers, has a love of weird creepy things, looks younger than she really is, and thinks cloaks look awesome, and you just assume she's really Biomancer. Pfff.

All your missing is the relentless self praise.

Giving you praise is what your creations are for. Praising yourself is just gauche. I mean, uh, if I were Biomancer, that would be my take on it.

Well, if a beautiful flesh child chooses to praise you and declare how sexy you are, then it must be true, right?

I'm surrounded by flesh children aren't I. Well geuss what! You can't copy my cool metal suit!

Fleshchildren are not known for stretching the truth, after all.

See, you got how it should work. You don't praise yourself, you just bask in other people's freely-given praise.

Other people you created.

Children often praise their parents, It's good to show filial loyalty to the great Biomancer

My flesh children usually just tell me I'm silly.

Maybe I should use blood magic to make the next batch.

Didn't ChronoRanger's cyborg arm get copied?

Flesh children use metal skeletons.

Also I’m already confirmed to be Biomancer.

I'm not...

 Biomancer that is, not confirmed biomancer, just not biomancer

*whistles as he walks*