Yeah, with the tvtropes page growing so much, I remembered that I oughta come up with a good tagline…
My ideas so far:
- Shine brighter! (Lady Light’s catch phrase, and kind of a theme for me and the story as a whole)
- Why not be good?
- Analyze, Adapt, Advance (Macian’s catchphrase/modus operandi)
I’ll probably go with the first or the third, but feel free to make suggestions!
Tieshaunn 
Go with the first one. Though the third appeals to my personal aesthetics more, shine brighter is more relevant.
Btw, the irc channel is up. Look at the top of the General Comments page
Aye-Aye!
Since Bennus is mostly the character #3 fits best to me.
Sorry I meant Brennus. I do not know how I messed that up.
Funny thing. I wanted to make two tinkers in TANH, and I called them Bird and Beetle. Lightly inspired by Brennus, of course. I wanted to give them both B names, so I picked Ben for the guy, Bird. Then, I needed to get a B name for the girl. I didn’t really like any of the ones I knew, so I looked up Irish girl names. First one that caught my eye? Brenna. I went with it. It was an OMEN!
*chuckles*
Ben and Brenna; Bird and Beetle. The greatest tinker duo of all time… Until some asshole came along and fucked their shit up on Halloween. But don’t worry, they’re both very different from Brennus. Beetle’s specialization is exponential creation, making things that make more things, and Bird… You know what? I give away way too much in comment sections. Read the damn story if you want to know. Hint hint. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ona-RhLfRfc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dona-RhLfRfc
Shine brighter is too optimistic in a universe with giant monsters, killers/child rapists that are never stopped, and a “girl” so powerful that she destroys cities for shits and giggles. “Why not be good?” also has the opposite with “Why not be evil?”. Watch “Magneto was right (The Big Picture)”, that shows why some people would use powers for evil. I prefer Analyze, Adapt, Advance. Mostly because thats why humanity is the top dog. Brennus loses, so he analyzes what went wrong, adapts his tech to compensate/ensure it doesn’t happen again, and advances his technology to dominate.
Go with #3. It not only fits Brennus specifically, but it is a theme of the overall narrative. Ember/Protege seemed to be along the same line, and Gloom Glimmer shows some of the same characteristics. ***Analyze, Adapt, Advance***
I personally like the 3rd.
The third, but you should play a bit with the typeface and/or the characters, to render it lile it was said by a half boy half machine weird thing 🙂
Worst come to worst, write it in 1337sp34k. Or at least with some number-symbols substitutions.
Another good idea would be to recycle Worm’s discarded unofficial tagline “prepare yourself to be skullfucked by awesome!” (cit. PG).
Am I the only person who likes “Why Not Be Good?” It’s both optimistic (no reason not to be good) but hints at pessimism (good is not the default position). It sums up the story of Brennus so far very well – dispite the ease that he could be so very evil, Basil’s decided to become a hero.
Shine brighter… sort of works, but doesn’t really have the right tone.
I think 3 is a little too clinical. It doesn’t really sumarise how I view the story. It doesn’t say much about the characters other than the Gadgeteers. It doesn’t interest me quite as much as number two.
Just my opinion, it’s not my decision.
#3 is coolest, but it’s very much Macian rather than B5. Cold, efficient, somewhat inhuman (due to being effectively a child soldier with minimal social interaction and mandatory self-modification).
#1 Fits, kinda, ish. But again, it’s Lady Light (who’s just been background scenery so far) rather than anything about the story as a whole.
I’d go with #2. It sounds silly, but it seems to fit the story best. Everything is stacked up for Brennus to turn to villainy. It would be so easy, certainly easier than trying to keep fighting the good fight with everything that’s going on here. He wouldn’t even have to be a monster, except in name, and from a pragmatic point of view he could probably do more for the world just developing tech in the private sector or even as Amy’s “minion” than by running around in power armor and getting beaten down repeatedly. There are countless reasons for him to not be good, to not be a hero, to take the cold, efficient, somewhat inhuman route. Instead, he charges headlong into danger and puts everything he has into being Good.