Faster Than Light Tournament, Final Round

Pita: Art-wise, once again, this is super solid and very pleasing to the eye. I honestly have zero complaints on the art! And writing-wise, I'd say it was also very good--it certainly is a different vibe from the previous rounds, but that's not a bad thing! Since you did ask for a more in-depth critique on entertainment, I'll offer my insight: the previous rounds I gave a pretty high entertainment score because the goal for those comics was to be cute or funny, like a Sunday morning cartoon. And both of them made me laugh or brought a smile to my face, so I rated them pretty high because they accomplished the entertainment goal they set out to do. This one, however, didn't have such a clear "mood". It was certainly a more in-depth and complex story, but with that comes the risk that maybe some people won't enjoy it as much as humor. The thing about humor is, especially for these short little stories, it tends to have more bang for its buck than other genres. You tried to tell more of a story with this one, which inevitably leads to more opportunities for holes or places where it'll fall flat--like Jade pointed out. Personally, I still really loved this story, loved seeing this side of Millie and this look at her motivations and beliefs, but I almost wish there was more? This is getting a little rambly so I'll leave it here but if you'd like some more details or whatever feel free to poke me! In the end, though, I am just. so impressed. by the fact that you did this in 24 hours. That's an accomplishment in itself. Flytee: Oh dang if I didn't know any better, I would've assumed this was what you had planned all along. Your ability to incorporate these wildly different characters into a cohesive storyline is really impressive, tbh. I admit I would've liked to have seen Millie retain a few more of her more froggy traits, but I do still like the design you gave her! I don't know, man, I cannot think of any advice to improve on this. To both of you: this was a real close one and you should both be proud of yourselves. I could certainly not pull off what you two did, and it's just. Mindblowing what you both have produced over the course of this tourney.

Pita asked for some writing feedback, so here's my two cents (and it's probably just time constraints so take it with a grain of salt!): My biggest gripe is that giving Art and Millie a reason to meet feels rushed. You have one panel of Art being at an appointment with her and then another asking her out to lunch. I get that you wanted to explain how they would have run into each other in the first place, but I feel like those two panels had little to no emotional weight, and you could have invested that comic space into providing more emotional beats to the rest of the comic. I think your comic could have used a bit more of a smooth transition between Art asking if Millie is a threat to her anticipating him asking her to join the NDA. It felt kind of presumptive of Millie to expect him to ask that when his original goal seemed to be whether or not the NDA should be worried about her, even though she was correct. Maybe if Art had been a little less forthright about his motivations in asking Millie about her strength, he could have surprised her by asking her to join instead of saying the NDA might view her as a threat? Something I really liked writing-wise, and I mentioned this in my original crit, but we're seeing a bit of Millie's motivation. She specifically doesn't want to use her strength to server others' causes, even if those causes might be good, and that gives us a promise that we'll learn more about what she DOES want to use her powers for. (Of course, REAL Millie fans will know she uses her powers to protect loved ones and punch creeps, but I still wanna learn more about her!) I want more Millie!!!

Thank you for the comments! Some of the feedback here's given me a nice injection of confidence & keen to make comics. I said above in my artist comment, but I'll say it again, I REALLY enjoyed this event. Could this be the year of 24-hour battles?? Pita- I loved your comic and I could totally see Art trying to recruit Millie in multiple different dimensions. I'll second Jade's comment about Millie's worldview and convictions, it's a side of her I didn't expect but very much enjoyed. There's a lot of intrigue there & I'm excited to see you expand on it. I'm also completely obsessed with how you drew Art, he's so handsome but has just the right amount of softness. Perfect.

Congratulations, Flytee!!!

Congrats on getting into the finals! Good luck both of you, awesome read from both sides.

Pita: I’m super impressed by how clean and finished this looks for the short deadline! Your entire tourney run has been really funny and I enjoyed it a lot, the last page on this comic gave me a legit laugh! the way you draw expressions and character acting is simply delightful. Flytee: Again very impressive quality and quantity for one day of work! I love how you write dialogue, it feels very natural and it's just Fun. I’m really interested in where this plot thread of lifting the curse is gonna go and what the entity is going to do about it, it’s a great setup and I’m excited for it to be continued!

Pita, I thought this was a great little comic and the ending made me laugh. I thought you did a great job through this whole thing. Flytee, you were consistent through all the rounds with your story, and I was really impressed with the amount of comic you were able to produce. Your art is always adorable and charming. Congrats to you both for amazing work!

Pita

You've really nailed that high-quality, short and sweet style for this tournament. Everything looks so clean and polished, it's easy to forget you only had a day to make this! I love all the facial expressions in this comic especially, mostly Art's angry blush and Aiko's smug grin at the end (not biased at all). It's been a fun tournament, and I hope we get to learn more about Millie and her convictions and worldview. It's interesting to see someone who's so powerful and capable, but doesn't want to use that power for any specific cause. I look forward to seeing more of what her personal goals and values are in the future!

Flytee

idk why but Asteria's "kay" just absolutely murdered me XD. You continue to write lively characters that just fill me with joy and love. And Aiko is gonna be so mad when Asteria teases her! Wish I could see that... maybe there will have to be a follow-up or something. Your comics during this tournament have me wanting to do NDA comics again, even though I've been struggling to make comics at all recently 😔 Really loved this comic, even if you feel like you couldn't give it as much as you wanted. You tied Millie into the story in a really interesting way, dropped some hot lore, and continued to show us how wonderful your character writing is. Can't wait for more!!!

Okay, finally voted and... I'm not even sure I gave the right numbers (compared to how I felt about each one) but it's difficult to put hard numbers to a vibe. XD Both of you have damn solid work on both. Its almost feels like a similar story between the two but on parallel worlds. (which is amusing giving my own possible future plans) No matter who gets the title, you both did incredible through out this whole event and should be very proud of yourselves!

You guys did great!!! ☺️ Keep up the good work!

Half asleep, about to start work. Will give more thoughts and actually vote, but I did enjoy both of these. Solid end to a bonkers style of tournament. You both should be proud no matter the victor.

*minis get popcorn and drinks for finale!* Good luck to the both of you!