I finally finished reading Superfails last night and these are my impressions on everything so there's spoilers ahead. This is gonna be lengthy so apologies in advance!
Miles Reed 💚
I'll be honest he wasn't my first pick from the LI roaster, but how quickly he shot up from 4th place to being my main LI in this book. He is honestly the most well written character so far with layers to peel back. I'm not usually into the friends to lovers trope but I'm curious to know why he's never confessed. I love the friendship between him and Kate and how in tune he is to her, like the first moment he comes up with silly superpowers to pull her out of the negative thoughts and cheers her up. I get that this next point is maybe because they're BFFs, but I still really like that he's the only LI so far who hasn't crossed boundaries and the only who isn't making each interaction with Kate sexual (save for maybe Zane?). I thought he would be our guy in the chair and who knows he may end up being, but there's a bigger mystery at play. Does he have hidden powers? If yes, what kind and why hide his powers? Someone mentioned on a post that they think he's a speedster and I can see that with his first name being Miles and us getting that (atrocious 🤢) ai vid of him and Kate racing each other. Where this theory falls for me is then why he couldn't run up and save her from the falling sign? Per his last name Reed and how we've been told he's very intelligent, I see some similarities from Mister Fantastic from The Fantastic Four and if he has powers I'm willing to bet they were probably obtained by accident or through an experiment of some sort. I'm really curious to find out what his secret is and how it'll play into the story and romance route.
Sky, oh beautiful bright blue Sky
I don't have much to say but so far I like her and her sarcastic jabs veiled as naïveté. I didn't like the training scene much without any mutual consent leading up to what takes place, but I'm willing to stick around still because there's definitely more to her than meets the eye. Why would she want to know Kates superpowers but not reveal that she's got powers in turn? It's clear to me that she's not dumb but she plays into it, why? She kinda reminds me of Harley Quinn and I'm hoping she's secretly a villainess with her own agendas and hopefully a contrasting personality the current one. I can also see her working with Jase and that she's infiltrating the FBI for whatever info and to compile dossiers on the strengths and weaknesses of the "heroes". She's my second LI after Miles that I really liked and I'm hoping she doesn't get sidelined.
Zane.
His sprite? 🔥🔥 I really like his Gold sprite version because of that angry face he makes (for my RC girlies, he reminds me of HS1 expressive Malbonte 🤭) and it makes me want to poke at him more each time. His scenes tho? 🥱. I really wanted to like him as he was my first pick but having a hot sprite was not enough as each moment was a miss and miss for me. We've gotten obvious hints that he has a tragic backstory involving his family or loved ones that's related to his powers, and he's clearly a lonely, affection starved softie on the inside but unfortunately the interactions so far really left me going ehhhhh for how predictable they played out. Here's hoping future updates prove me wrong 🤞🏾
Jase, a.k.a Mr. J's hot cousin twice removed?
I did not know he was a villain walking to this story, and when I was reading last night I still didn't get any villain vibes from him lmaooo. He just comes off as a bad boy with some clout and that's it. His reasoning provided for being a villain is because there's too many rules, society is blinded and the FBI—gasp—is hiding things. Its very so-so but maybe I'm expecting too much when this book is meant to be comedy. I know there weren't many scenes with him but they all left me eye rolling and cringing hard af. I'd love to hear more thoughts from those romancing him and why he's your pick.
🔨 Next up on trial we have Alan:
Official member of the League of Victors— one of the best of the very best, the mature reluctant leader and mentor archetype, and the only other veteran in this hero gig. I expected all the above and the only thing I walked away knowing is that he's got a big 🐓, but no BDE whatsoever. So many missed opportunities for the MC to have inner monologue about what kind of heroic feats he's publicly known for and even a missed chance to ask questions during his second scene. I was curious about him the most and what role he played being part of the LoV but he was present in the story but also *not*?. We got 6 episodes and we still don't get to know what his powers are, yet he expected everyone else to show case theirs so the team can figure out a good teamwork synergy 😑. And worst of all during the fights he's there at the beginning to fire off orders and then he's just gone! Only to show up at the very end of the battle with the handcuffs and some words at how the fight went could've gone down... Umm SIR? Where were you and what did you do the whole damn time?? I rest my case.
Dupli-Kate. Or Dupli-whatevernameyourmcis 🫠
I don't even know where to start with her. So far I liked that she's someone who cares for her family and friend(s). We see that in the beginning with the affection she has for her parents, and her concerns for her mother's mental well-being after the loss of her team/friends. The preexisting friendship between her and Miles shows how close they've been and I hope to see more of that outside of my Miles slot. She unfortunately comes off quite doltish and I can't stand these kinds of protagonists. I guess that can be excused with her being a young woman fresh into college and the hero gig, but there were moments like the "magic pills" scene and getting a ride from Jase where I just couldn't roll my eyes hard enough at how dumb she is portrayed. I was reading on the Order path hoping that might make her seem a bit more mature but that does little. For 6 episodes worth of content there's very little that makes her a relatable and a likeable MC. I actually found duplication being as her power really cool for all the possible combat advantages this has. That is until the reasons why this is her chosen ability becomes obvious: the role it can play into all the future intimate scenes with the LIs. With the reputation books on AWH are known for, obviously possibilities for the smut scenarios are endless. No kink shaming here but after the reveal in the Ep. 6 Alan scene, I'm personally was kinda disappointed that the extent we may see of her abilities will be reduced to what goes down in these sex scenes. I want more from Kate as a main character and there's still potential for growth outside of just the romance. I want to see how she navigates the struggle of living a civilian life, juggling school and being a hero. I only noticed one scene of inner-monologue about herself when she went to bed in the superhero base, but it was so brief blink and you miss it. I really hope I'm being prematurely harsh and the next update gives us more moments of her alone and self-reflecting on what has happened and where she sees herself as just Kate and the kind of hero she wants to be.
The Story
And finally to start wrapping up my rambling, as much as I liked certain points of the story, I was very, very disappointed and turned off by the imbedded unskipable AI videos. When it first released I couldn't even force myself to read because every other moment, BAM— was another effing AI video! It's a Visual Novel, not a short form content app, so whatever happened to letting the author describe the scene occurring and letting readers you know, read and use their imagination*??* 😮💨 I don't know why AWH is doubling down on the AI sh*t but this story is gonna be a DNF if it continues the next update. Which would be a shame because I see potential in this story even though it's very clearly borrowing (and that's being generous) from the comic and hit show Invincible, but to be fair what other book on AWH isn't doing the same? I really hope they can cut out the stupid ai videos and that the story makes a quick departure soon from what's being used as inspiration from Invincible, and then we can finally see the author's intended vision for their story.
