Prometheus: Hot Take,

for r/wormmemes’ monthly prompt, “Trolley Problems.” I was already halfway done drawing the comic when I remembered what a trolley problem actually was…

Had a dream that absurdist memes about Pale became super popular. The text was always out of context stuff starting with "when the", like "When the candle milf exits the ritual through the coin" "When the goblin loses a fight with a cigarette" "When the horror is a sexyman" And it was always overlaid on this image.

A kid I went to middle school with showed me a video that was just a bunch of these. I went "wait a second, I know that possum." I explained what Pale was and he said "oh cool, I'll check it out." And then I woke up. Apparently that was the most unrealistic part of the dream, successfully convincing someone to read Pale.

old worm art from circa 2022 that i never posted

everyone stop what you’re doing and look at this baby pelican

Worm meme that’s just a picture of Citrine and the Number Man that’s captioned ‘me and the bad bitch I pulled by being autistic’

see when people try and nitpick me because i call my dog "my dog" when it's technically "the family dog".......well first of all i still call my brother "my brother" and not "the family boy". although maybe that should change. second of all sorry i'm still thinking about the family boy. btw i fell asleep while making this post last night and i think you can tell

little pumpkin thief

Sorry if I'm like, reciting something I forgot I heard on We've Got Worm or read in a post or something, but one thing that makes the cafeteria scene in Worm so great and warms my heart like nothing else is what it really means when the other kids stand up to side with Taylor.

Because Taylor's defining trauma was being shoved in a rotten, disgusting locker and yelling and banging for help and, crucially, knowing that there were tons of people around, and none of them cared enough to try and help her. She got a Master power from being a social outcast.

But after her career as a villain, with every heroic act, she started setting an example. That's what changes things. She flips out on Charlotte- despite the poor girl only just having been saved from human trafficking- for being a bystander back at school and not trying to help. And she did it right after making the choice to save Charlotte rather than being a bystander herself. And after that, after risking her life fighting mannequin, Charlotte decides to take in the neighborhood kids orphaned by Leviathan and the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Who do you think taught her that? What changed from when Charlotte stood by and let some random classmate get bullied so bad she got sent to the hospital psyche ward? Who taught her to expect better from herself?

And Charlotte is the first to stand up when Taylor tells people to stand with her.

The biggest contrast between Taylor visiting Arcadia and back when she was in Winslow isn't that the Undersiders are in power and corrupt the system to their own ends, it's that, despite their evils, they fought their way through a harsh point in the city's history and helped others along the way.

So Taylor, after once calling out for help and being ignored by people who were indifferent or felt powerless, calls out for help again and the people around her risked their own safety for her because of the example she set.

Some things that are great about Pale, if you're unsure about reading it:

A murder mystery in which none of the suspects can lie, and yet half-truths and sneakiness make this absolutely riveting to investigate

A social justice story about working your damndest to make a better world and a serious examination of what it really takes to change the system

Three teenage protagonists who are all incredible people in rich and diverse ways - seriously, I want to be each of them when I grow up

Teens do extremely cool magic stunts

Characters who you come to appreciate on a deeper level than arguably any other work

Number one source for opossum appreciation and memes

A magic system so good it doesn't even feel fair to call it a magic system; this is just what magic is to me now

Arguably the best introduction to that system and universe because it makes it playful and fun (and doesn't spoil anything from other stories in that universe)

So many different kinds of magic!

Robust enough to accommodate any fantasy/horror/urban fantasy plotline

So many well-classified types of guy. Like, you've been through a million groundhog day style loops? That's a type of guy

Feels like a courtroom drama half the time

Maybe the best take on the "is it bad for kids to be protagonists?" question ever

The coolest trans guy in the world

Gay shipping wars (takes a while to get there, but so worth it)

Will probably make you cry

There are podcasts! Pale Reflections, which comments on Pale, and Pale In Comparison, which compares Pale to Pact, the other big work set in this universe. Both are very good and will 100% enhance your understanding of the story's themes

Judicial extrajudicial judicial murder (Is it good? Bad? Discuss)

In a sense that is totally unfair to both parties but nonetheless feels inescapably true, the antagonist is Taylor from Worm