Update log
29 Jun 2026
Another sketch finished from my half-finished pile, this one is of Stephanie. I started this one shortly after her re-introduction in If at First You Don't Succeed...
In her redesign, I gave her robot antennae ears that look like they're made of wood with metal rivets to reference the wood cases that Apple 1 units are usually shown having. I thought that gave her steampunk elf vibes so I drew her in an alternate outfit in that style.
Her usual style is based on 1970's hippie fashion, but steampunk and fantasy styles are also ones she likes.
This was supposed to be a sketch but I spent so much time cleaning it up and making adjustments to it. I launched the Illustrations page to go with it!
📄Illustrations
The next illustrations to be posted will be two of scenes of Valencia's collaboration with Chariots of Colors (see the 27th Apr update), and an illustration of two other characters that commemorates this project reaching version 3.1.
25 Jun 2026
Sidney (Commodore 64) is being re-introduced from Version 2 with a redesigned outfit, and tweaks to her role! In Version 3.1, she returns as a DJ and celebrity chef? More details and a color sketch of her outfit are in the Development Room page:
📄 Development Room
Along with a backlog of character concepts I'm planning to add there, I also have other half-finished character sketches from weeks or a few months ago that I returned to complete them. This one of Juna was one I started just after I published the article for Highway to Shell. This'll also be added to the Illustrations page once I publish it 🙃
I was listening to the song that's the namesake of this team and thought that Juna, usually stoic and professional, could have a hidden depth of being skilled at expressing herself through music, with hard rock being her forte.
23 Jun 2026
There are characters I have ideas for that I'm going to introduce, or re-introduce without already having a story appearance. The details for them are what I’m considering. They’re not all finalized, but I still wanted to introduce these characters and will through a new page:
📄 Development Room
By doing this, I broke a rule that I held on to since the start of Version 3 of only introducing characters once they already had an appearance in a story or wiki template. That rule has a purpose, and it’s helpful to me for writing about characters on the wiki. It gives constraints to keep the articles at a manageable length and complexity to start with.
However, I'm held back by it when I have ideas for characters that I want to introduce, but haven't been able to feature yet. It's also a rule meant to be broken when it's too limiting.
The first I'll be introducing is a Windows XP character. She doesn't have a finalized name yet since I'm trying to decide between a few. Next to be added will be a character being re-introduced from Version 2 with a redesign!
18 Jun 2026
Chapter 16 of I Was a Software Developer... is published, and with it, a sudden major retcon. Changing the name of the setting! I included an author comment about it in the chapter:
Author note: During the writing of this chapter, the name of the setting got retconned from Techlandia to Tekterria. Renaming the setting after having written so many story chapters and articles for the wiki isn't practical, but well, Tekterria ("tech" + "terria", based on the Latin word for land "terra") gets the same point across in a less corny way. Techlandia might've worked better if this setting were entirely silly.
This rename will gradually be rolled out across the wiki, but since the setting name is in the full name of this story, I'm going to have to update each one 🙃
Title: "How Can We Report This Without it Being Mistaken for a Prank Call?"
Damien and his group investigate while they try not to reveal the secrets of the OSes to Glorinda since she’s a human. They need to work with Glorinda because of her credentials to investigate the building, but with her enthusiasm for investigating the paranormal, keeping these secrets from her might be easier said than done.
I got stuck on parts of this chapter halfway through drafting it, but when I revisited it after a few months, I did with a fresh mind. That helped a lot with overcoming where I got stuck.
The janitor doesn't have a given name, but I liked writing the scenes with him the most! There's lore stuff in here to be added to the wiki about the glitches that can appear in the Human World.
Due to the name change, I'll need to go through each story chapter again, but I'll need to at a later time anyways to update many of the illustrations because of the character design changes introduced in Version 3.1.
17 Jun 2026
If at First You Don't Succeed... trivia
Some trivia for this story, which also goes into something that can happen in my writing process: changing the script after I start drawing. I changed the punchlines to parts 3 times.
- At the end of part 2; I changed it to Stephanie and Diana lamenting that what they said sounded better in their heads. That's how I felt about the planned punchline. It didn't sound as great as I thought when I wrote it out 😔
- At the end of part 4; indecisiveness took over when I was trying to decide between multiple punchlines. To keep this part from being overly complicated, I went for an open-ended one.
- At the end of part 7; Katsumi getting upstaged by Lorraine's performance was part of it, but the punchline was going to be Petunia showing up again, remarking "Heh heh heh... Is that a hint of jealousy from you?" This punchline was going to be based on a show host not wanting to be upstaged by a participant.
That general idea is kept for part 7, but I replaced Petunia's re-appearance with Paulette re-appearing and causing trouble with her remarks. She's been established as being a heckler in the audience but she was less disruptive than when Juna and Valencia argued in part 3.
It just felt right to have Paulette return at the end from the first part. She gets along very well with Lorraine, but both of them clash with Katsumi due to their differences in attitudes. They can get along, after having a better understanding of each others' perspectives (and Paulette promising to not cause too much trouble), but they still have their moments.
Chapter 16 of IWASD is almost finished, and I have an outline for chapter 17. I also have a page in-progress for characters I want to introduce, but their designs or other details might not be finalized. I'd be going against my usual rule of introducing characters only after they had at least one story appearance. It's been a helpful rule for how I write their articles on the wiki, but also held me back from introducing some that I have ideas for that I've been wanting to get to.
The rest of the updates from March have been moved to the Update Logs Archives.
15 Jun 2026
A closer look of the background for another illustration for I Was a Software Developer... chapter 16. It'll be on the screen of a black and white TV within the illustration, but I still wanted to show the office in color!
I drew in some of the line art after exporting the render, and put BlenderKit assets together quickly for this, but modified some of the textures to work with cel shading.
It's the office that Damien went to in chapter 15. It had a gray and white color scheme in the original, but I changed my mind on it when I modeled part of it for this illustration. I changed it to a 1970's style office with lots of orange and brown wood paneling, and I went back and update the description of it in that chapter. It's also an expansion:
We were in a spare office that was being used as an impromptu meeting room. It had the bold orange and brown wood color scheme of the decade that was still in my recent memory and not just because it was only about a week since I left my world. "The Human World" as the Techlandians call it.
Brown wood paneled walls, mahogany wood desk and shelves, an orange and white cabinet which had a glossy orange vase on it. The shelves had electronic equipment on them, and the cabinets probably had more. Tiled floors with hues of orange. Space Age-style orange chairs with metal legs in front of the desk, and a luxurious orange leather chair behind it. The curtains covering the window had an orange, yellow and white geometric pattern on them.
All not unlike the interior design of the Programmable Darling Patrol's headquarters, though they had more pieces of decor in blue, green and red too, and pieces of flower power decor.
"Oh, Beasty. You weren't expected here. Somehow you passed through security." My former manager said with an intense gaze in my direction. I was ready to confront him across the desk, and I glared back but still didn't look close to being his peer instead of his subordinate. There he sat in the luxurious chair behind the desk while I sat in the simpler chair in front, and the coworker that accompanied us stood off to the side.
This is the old description:
We were in a spare office that was being used as an impromptu meeting room. It was a contemporary office but with a gray and white color scheme though posters added some color to the walls. Shelves had electronic equipment on them, and the cabinets probably had more.
"Oh, Beasty. You weren't expected here. Somehow you passed through security." My former manager said. I was ready to confront him.
I forgot to post the second WIP before publishing this one, but I added it to the sidebar. It's drawn in an art style based on Scooby Doo. This inspiration came from the direction this chapter took when I resumed writing it.
5 Jun 2026 (posted 8 Jun)
At this point, I think this project reached Version 3.1. Unlike the other version changes, this one happened through gradual refinements and continuity drift. I noticed enough of it to update the wiki article about this version:
📄 Version 3
Continuity drift can be an annoyance with writing, but I don't mind that it happened. My approach with how I've been writing for this project allows it; at the start of Version 3, I wrote a lot of worldbuilding details about the teams and their locations, but I wasn’t entirely sure about some of them.
As I got to writing new stories and continuing others, some ideas I had then drifted in ways I wouldn't have expected, but I saw them as improvements. Details I wasn’t fully decided about at the start could become finalized while writing these story chapters.
However, there's still an annoyance to this with needing to go back to update wiki articles, usually multiple of them for sharing information that became outdated. Right now, I’m still in the process of introducing several character redesigns.
I'll also have to go back and update several story chapters due to the redesigns 🙃
Possibly retconning its "present" time from 2010 to 2017 is one of the unexpected changes. I had a lot more ideas for characters based off of technology introduced in the 2010's than I did at the start of Version 3. It works out since I still don’t have very many ideas for technology introduced after 2020 😅
The Clubs article was updated with the Previous Version template to mark that it’s only applicable to Version 3.0 🥲
The idea of clubs as secondary groups that can bring OSes across teams together was introduced early in Version 3. These clubs are mostly based on different aspects of retrocomputing and inspired by retrocomputing events.
As I wrote more story chapters throughout last year, distinguishing clubs from teams started to feel clunky so I retconned all but one into being teams; I retconned Computing Old-School Museum of Superstars (COSMOS) to be a museum that several OSes might work or volunteer at. The members of the other clubs-turned-teams can still live in different sectors from where they’re headquartered.
COSMOS being a club instead of a team in Version 3.0 was to keep it from being redundant as a team. However, it wasn't as well-defined because as the other clubs because it had too much overlap with them, so it became redundant as one.
Most of the bits of continuity drift that OS Version 3 had since its start have been positive, but the most frustrating one of all has been about the system time reset event because it's of an issue that can happen with writing is introducing plot points that don't go anywhere or get dropped.
That's something I've been trying to avoid. The system time reset event was an ambitious starting point, and I had a storyline planned around it. If I hadn’t gotten too sidetracked with other things, I could've had enough focus to return to it.
If there's a writing lesson I can learn from this, what could it be? Since I go back and forth between storylines, I needed to have enough notes prepared in advance for each of them so I could return to one without anything nor scrambling to fill in the gaps.
It'd also be great to not get sidetracked so often, but it’s led me to write out or draw ideas I had that I might not have otherwise gotten to 🤔
3 Jun 2026
I Was a Software Developer... chapter 16 WIP 1
When I started If at First You Don’t Succeed... I had a partial draft of IWASD chapter 16, which I’m resuming while juggling chapter 4 of my other story project. I got stuck trying to continue it, but after putting it on hold for months, I looked at my draft again and could get past the earlier roadblocks!
The conversations continued for a few more minutes until being cut off. "What happened?" Several people asked. The lights, TV and other electronics all suddenly turned off. "I assume this isn't part of the event." Piroska said and grimaced. Worried chattering filled the room, and panic could be heard from the halls and the lobby.
A receptionist rushed from the lobby to alert of the outage, but the power turned back on again. He looked as confused but relieved as the rest of us when the lights were back on. He went back to the lobby, but fear and worry still filled the room. The lights stayed on but often flickered. I looked at the TV, which was playing a horror movie in black and white, but its picture was less visible due to flickering static.
The conversations continued, but with unease. On the TV, scenes from a movie got mixed with scenes from something else for a few seconds at a time. A system administrator ran into the cafeteria. "Everyone got logged out of their shell accounts and no one can log back in, so everyone will have to stay here to be accounted for until this issue is resolved!" He warned.
"Something's not right. This isn't an ordinary electrical issue!" I asserted, and pointed him to the TV. He looked like he thought I was exaggerating. "If there were no issues with the antennae, I can call the station to check if they are having any technical issues, but you need to wait here." He said and went to the lobby.
While we waited, Piroska, Juna and I focused our attention on the TV screen for any patterns in the unusual footage and pictures that were mixed in with the movie. One of the recurring scenes that appeared about 5 seconds at a time was of three men in an office room. The camera was filming from above in most scenes, but it lowered in another shot, and another to almost be eye-level. "Far out! Is that you on screen?" Piroska asked, sounding impressed and a bit scared at the same time.
I was taken aback, but I wanted to answer her question. It took just a couple of minutes for the movie to cut out to the mysterious footage.
"I-- I think so." I said when I saw it again.
29/30 May 2026
If at First You Don't Succeed... part 7 (finale)
Click the image to see the larger version:
Transcript:
Panel 1- Lorraine (materializing her keyboard guitar): My original team struggled to find another that’d take us in when we needed it. I— I'm going to burst into song about this!
Panel 2- A close-up of Lorraine playing her keyboard guitar.
(In-between panels she narrates while singing; the background is mostly blue with 80's glam rock aesthetics, with references to the original Amiga OS color scheme, the trash can icon and the clock icon)
"We trained hard to become beyond great,
To be seen as the best candidate!
We needed this from another team,
Or it’d be the early end of our dream."
(The background turns gray with an orange-outlined trash can)
"The Awks' expectations I tried to smash,
But they said my style was too loud, too brash!
Yet after I moved on and set sail, after a while,
They chose someone of a comparable style.
I was too costly for CC to give me a chance,
Yet they weren't new to extravagance.
My team was ahead of the time,
Sounds great, but it wasn't sublime!
Not when time was our foe,
The clock was ticking; where would we go?"
(The clock icon appears, with its time close to midnight, and with a ticking sound effect)
Panel 3 - Lorraine:
"It'd be settled when we'd meet
the formidable Ready Fleet!
Onwards to Swallowtail,
That was where we’d prevail!"
(Applause)
Katsumi: What a smashing, electrifying finale to this episode! It stole the show, but let's applaud all of the participants!
Paulette: Yaaaaar! Lorraine should be the new show host!
(The audience starts chanting "Lorraine! Lorraine!")
Katsumi: (annoyed but still trying to keep his composure) *sigh* Paulette, you were doing so well this time, but are you looking to get ejected from the audience for encouraging mutiny?
Lorraine might not have even mentioned all of the teams she auditioned for but Chariots of Colors and The Awks were two of them. Her narration was going to be straightforward in the original script, but I changed it to her playing a song. It was fun to throw in 80's glam rock visuals, show off one of her music instruments and putting rhyming to the test. This part established that she has a talent for improvised musicals.
I'm glad to have finished this comic! It was a long detour from the other stories, and took longer than I hoped it would, but it was fun. There are still some leftover ideas for character interactions I might put into a written epilogue, but otherwise this story is completed 🎉
The wiki article has been updated with information from this part. The full-size images can be viewed there one at a time. They can be viewed at once on the site, but are scaled down.
26 May 2026
The sidebar was updated with a WIP for part 7, and the finale, of IaFYDS!
Her interview references how Hi-Toro needed an investor to continue the Amiga's development. They approached several other companies, but were rejected until Commodore accepted. This is a detail I listed as a reference in her article, but only referenced it through her interest in travel.
I also wanted to reference that detail as part of the struggles she had before she joined Ready Fleet, but I waited until her appearance in this story to show it.
A new item appears in the menu section; a page for standalone illustrations is planned.
21/22 May 2026
If at First You Don’t Succeed... part 6
Click the image to see the larger version:
Transcript:
Katsumi: "You're seen as one of Defending Waits for Nobody's most influential members that them not being your first choice was a shock to much of the audience. What was your first choice?"
Panel 1 - Kyouko: "I looked up to Chariots of Colors and worked with Pleiades on a musical collab!"
"The CC members even encouraged me to audition for them when a new spot was going to be open we could work together full-time!"
(Panel 2 is a flashback to Pleiades and Kyouko talking when they were working on their collaboration)
Panel 2 - Kyouko: "That'd be an honor! I'll make sure I make it to the auditions!"
Between panels - Kyouko: "...When I was ready to audition, I missed the window of opportunity--"
(Panel 3 shows Kyouko worrying while two pop-up messages appear: "Worrying... In-progress..." And "What now? Just say it..."
Kyouko: (speaking) "I-- I overslept and someone else joined instead!"
Panel of Wolfgang with a narration box next to him: "*The 'someone else' in question, whom didn't even stay in CC for long."
Panel 4 - Kyouko: (cheerfully) "No hard feelings though! Our rivalry wasn't because of that, I promise. As one door closed, another opened and DWN opened that door!"
Next up on stage for her interview is Kyouko. Her role as a musician that collaborated with Chariots of Colors and that she missed an opportunity to join them before she joined Defending Waits for Nobody reference the Windows 95 startup sound was made on a Mac.
Getting the chance to portray this was years in the making since it might've been in 2020 when I learned about this, and thought over how to incorporate it because I thought it was so cool 😠I immediately liked the idea of a portraying a Windows 95 character being friends with the Mac characters before she had to compete against them.
When Kyouko became a competitor to CC, some CC members or at least their supporters saw this as a betrayal. To her, it was nothing personal and she never had anything against them even after joining their fiercest competitor. She missed her chance to become an Operating Superstar with joining CC, but found one with DWN.
Although she has no regrets with joining DWN, competing against CC during the low point between their teams wasn't easy for her either; she’s competitive, but has regrets related to it and had amends to make. She is shown to be friends with some of the CC members in To the Visitors...
I also updated Pleiades' and Kyouko's articles with their recent redesigns along with info from this part:
17 May 2026
The sidebar was updated with a WIP for part 6 of IaFYDS! Kyouko will appear, and the context of her worrying will be coming soon since this part is mostly finished.
I also started vectoring the sketches for the panels in part 7, the finale! Completing this story is within reach!
The oldest two sidebar images were moved to the Archives, and the updates before March were moved to the Update Logs Archives.
14 May 2026
I usually don't get the chance to do anniversary drawings, but the ideas for these drawings came to mind shortly before the anniversary of System 7's release on the 13th!
During OS* Version 2, I struggled with finalizing Pleiades' design and characterization. For Version 3, I went with her dressing in grunge-inspired fashion and that she speaks in 90's slang, is usually laid-back and can be a good mentor figure but also has attitude.
The first drawing is an homage to the early Sonic game title screens since I thought it could be funny if Pleiades also acted like the 90's mascot with attitude archetype. How ironic though since the 90's was the peak of Mario's and Sonic's rivalry, and there were Mario games for the Mac from that era!
The other one is inspired by the same idea, but with her and Wolfgang in a platformer with black and white patterns in the scenery, owing to how System 7 is the last Mac OS version that is supported on Compact Macs.
10 May 2026
Two more wiki updates! Sumire was re-introduced in part 4 of If at First You Don't Succeed...
Her redesign is similar to her Version 2 design, but tweaked to better reflect one of her roles; her dress is based on a nurse outfit. I also changed the colors on her outfit to pastels.
I struggled with her characterization in Version 2 despite taking cues from contemporary Mac models to help her be more distinct and have more to work with. I'll focus on just a few technical details that'd give her and the other early Classic Mac OS characters distinct roles they can continue to have within CC.
Sumire having a role as a medic is based on the technical detail about the Mac SE being the first Mac to have Disk First Aid with it. She's also from the Human World to make her backstory more distinct too. Before she arrived in Techlandia, she was a nurse and an aspiring artist. Although she could continue her skills as an artist in Techlandia, she had to start over as a medic.
I've been working on expanding the project overview article for a while. There are still some ways to go with it, but for now the first major revision is ready to be published!
📄 Operating Superstars (project)
It was bare bones and I nearly forgot about it because it doesn't link to very many other places in the wiki. Most of the topics are based on what has been added to the wiki over time. This is another article I expect to keep building onto as needed.
One of the most important ones to help readers know what to expect is about how certain things are represented, and within that section is a retcon about how game consoles will be represented: I don't expect to portray many of them, but many exist in-universe and they're of a skillset that is dedicated to entertainment.
This skillset is tentatively called the Game Commanders. They have similar abilities that OSes do, but OSes' are more generalized. Version 2 was the first version of this continuity to introduce a game console character, and she was listed as being an OS. It made enough sense then. However, in the context of the skillset classification that Version 3 added, the separation makes sense.
I intend to cover a range of topics to help viewers know what to expect. I also needed to expand on this as Fragments Reloaded gets built onto more, since these settings sharply contrast with each other. As FR gets built onto more, it may also have a similar overview article.
These two projects are far from the only tech gijinka, or tech personification series out there. To anyone who's new to this concept, it can be done in many ways. It's niche, but I write so much about my writing process for these projects in part to help show I'm just doing one or two of the possible ways this can be done; the same references for a particular OS or hardware can be implemented differently. Another part is sharing the interesting things that I learned about computing history even if I don't use everything I find.
I've also had a lot of challenges and pitfalls and write about those to show what I've been trying to overcome. Not all of them are related to this specific concept or genre, but if my writings help someone avoid pitfalls, then that's awesome!
6 May 2026
An article was published about the System time reset event that was behind the plot of System Time Reset, or is it Time Travel?!:
📄 System_Time_Reset_(event)
I also created a disambiguation template for this article and the one for the story, which is now moved to:
📄 System_Time_Reset_(story)
I wrote a bit about this in a post about plot bunnies. The formatting was changed to fit the style of the site.
Does your writing ever get away from you? (plot bunnies...?)
So often! Sometimes I think this is great since it has helped me get out of ruts; plot thread ideas popping up helped a lot with the start of my other story project's relaunch... They also helped a lot with Operating Superstars by adding onto characters and filling in gaps in ways I didn’t think of before.
They're also a problem me for becoming long detours; I wanted to finish I Was a Software Developer... by the end of last year, but didn't because of how long Same Place, Different Universe became. They can also pile up; I write them down when I can. They sparked ideas for more stories I want to get to and more characters I want to introduce, but I should still finish the ones I have in-progress.
If at First You Don't Succeed... originated from a plot bunny. Although I like how it's turning out, it's still a significant detour from IWASD and SPDU...
System Time Reset, Or is it Time Travel?! has a mystery about a time travel incident that sent that story's protagonist back in time beyond her control. STR was going to have a sequel that would've led the protagonist to meet other characters that know about time travel. At least one other sector would've been visited and the investigation was going to reveal the cause of the incident. I didn't follow up on this because of plot bunnies that got in the way.
This cut quote from a draft is about why I haven't gotten back to solving the cause of the incident once I remembered it:
The plot thread that got away was a satisfying in-story reason for why this incident happened, and why back to 2010 specifically. I remembered a reason for why it happened that could work, but nothing about the specific timeframe unless I went with something that might not fit the tone I intend for this project: someone sent Marcia back to the past with enough time for her to prevent an impending bad future.
I thought it over a lot but no reason I thought about was completely satisfying. At this time I'm still unsure whether to use the reason I think could work, or just leave it ambiguous and to interpretation.
Along with publishing this update, I also split off the entry logs section from The Archives to their own page.
3 May 2026
The article for Highway to Shell was published yesterday:
📄Highway to Shell
The Awks article was also updated with info from it, and I could finalize a detail that had not been finalized!
These get into a tricky writing issue I've mentioned before, but I published the HtS article since they had a story mention and there were enough details for it.
The issue is foregone conclusions about events that'll happen, since a story that features characters from The Awks in their early era (I Was a Software Developer...) is still ongoing, Highway to Shell is established as being The Awks' successor, and the conflict mentioned in the article references the UNIX Wars.
I'm still resolved to finish this story despite this and despite getting distracted. Before I published this article, I still thought about how much I'd directly portray that references the UNIX Wars, and how I’d do that. First, how it'll be portrayed won't be a 1:1 parallel with history. Since writing out stories is my main method of conveying worldbuilding and characters, taking some artistic license could help keep intrigue with what could happen in IWASD.
When I read again about the history of the UNIX Wars as a refresher, it was also complicated to keep track of all of the different alliances and divisions 🙃 I could follow along, but still need to draw the line somewhere over how much complexity to handle to keep this project manageable.
A 1:1 parallel would've also been too much to put into IWASD since its focus is supposed to be about the protagonist adapting to his new life, challenges with it, the friends and rivals he made. If a story was planned to be written about those conflicts in-depth, that could work, but not here without losing focus.
So I may not be able to completely avoid foregone conclusions, but I can mitigate them and put more of the focus on the many other things that happen along the way; other events, experiences and character interactions.
30 Apr 2026
Several articles in the wiki have been updated with information from the latest parts of If at First You Don't Succeed.... Along with the articles for the characters that appeared in those parts, the articles for some teams have been updated:
The articles for CC and the PrDP were updated with info based on the collaboration that they had, though info for a few more teams was also filled out in the article for CC. The article for The Defenestrators was updated with clearer wording about the dynamics they have with their former benefactors.
The article for Highway to Shell is in-progress and with info based on its mentioning in IaFYDS.
Some clean-up was also done on the front page; the updates from January were moved to the Archives page, though with how long the updates section is, I should split them off into their own page and avoid it from getting too unwieldy 😅
27 Apr 2026
If at First You Don't Succeed... Parts 4 and 5
Click the images to see the larger versions:
Part 4 transcript:
Panel 1 - Antares: "When I joined Chariots of Colors, I saw it as a consolation prize, but it's the best one I could ask for! I still have a place there and since I joined, I've seen so much and been on many adventures I wouldn't have. As a team we went through many challenges- we overcame a lot to reach where we are now!"
Katsumi: (cheerfully) "That was a touching tribute to having no regrets joining the team that wasn't your first choice!"
(Applause)
Panel 2- Sumire, Antares and Auriga are in the audience.
Sumire (cheerfully but concerned): "What's the matter? Your part was wonderful!"
Antares (mortified): "I got too sappy in front of everyone..."
(Auriga looks concerned)
Auriga: "Valencia may have been a pain to work with in those collab days, but what she said was right, and not just about The Awks' standards!*"
Narration footnote: "*Spoken as a former Awks member. Whether her words were assuring can be left to interpretation since the author couldn't decide on the punchline."
Part 5 transcript:
Panel 1- Regina: "I failed Highway to Shell's VIP certification on my first try. (Hisses) I swear it was on a technicality."
Katsumi: "What led you to try again and pass?"
Panel 2- Regina (hot-blooded, fiery background behind her): "I really wanted those VIP perks! Marcia was over the moon when she got them and like-- *ahem* I was going to miss out!"
Katsumi: "Your determination to succeed is out of this world!"
(Applause)
Juna (deadpan but happy): "They’re a good motivation and incentive."
Marcia (nervously smiling): "I was overjoyed, but may have played them up a bit too much..."
Regina (confidently, regaining her composure): "I may have gotten carried away, but I say trying again was usually worth it."
Commentary
Antares finishes her interview, but became mortified over it when she returned to the audience although Sumire and Auriga tried to reassure her. If she was told it was a sweet and heartfelt performance, that’d be mortifying to her since that was in front of everyone. This is because I see Antares as being the "jerk with a heart of gold" type, or she’s trying to be that.
Sumire is re-introduced in this scene; I wanted to keep her colorful jacket and glass earrings from her Version 2 design, but tone down her outfit to make it easier to draw. I prefer the colors on her jacket being changed to pastels. Her colorful outfit reflects System 4.1 being the first Mac OS version to support color while her outfit and hairstyle also take some cues from Diana’s to reflect the Mac II's similarities with the Apple II (color support, modular design, a lot of expandability).
The dress she wears is modeled after a nurse outfit to reflect her role as a medic. Auriga's remark about Valencia having been a pain to work with references the alliance that Apple and DEC had in the late 1980's. It also hints why she's a former member of The Awks.
I didn’t know this alliance existed until I was reading through computing magazines from the era, but I quickly had ideas for how I could portray it that could add on to characters! This alliance started in 1988, seemed to be rocky, but eventually something to show for it. I haven't seen a definite end date for it, but I assume it ended by or in 1991 when Apple stopped seeing IBM as an enemy. 🤔
I added a footnote about it in the story article.
This alliance is one of the things I stumbled across. I found a lot of interesting things about computing history that way, but trying to incorporate everything wouldn’t be practical, so I think over if each thing would add character or story potential, and fit within the scope.
Regina's turn on stage shows how I referenced 10.7 Lion not being SUS-compliant, but 10.8 Mountain Lion is. SUS compliance is represented as completing an exam to be certified as a Highway to Shell VIP. I can't see some of the later OS X/macOS characters fitting in with HtS that much, so they wouldn't be members but still completed their VIP certification for the perks that come with it.
I'll soon need to move more updates from the front page to the archives.
20 Apr 2026
A WIP was posted in the sidebar for If at First You Don't Succeed... Part 4 to show a preview of Regina's appearance on stage. Since the previous update, the wiki articles for the characters that appeared in part 3 have been updated.
The article for Petunia has also been published:
Petunia had a mentor role through most of Ready Fleet's original era, though she had a mentor before her. Although she struggled with what Ready Fleet became much more well-known for, her philosophies helped to shape the team into becoming what it was, and its values that still carry over in its continuation. During their original era, she preferred to have a supporting role on stage handling the technical aspects of shows.
She still works the camera for a show that Katsumi hosts, but might be ready to have starring roles again.
15 Apr 2026
If at First You Don't Succeed... Part 3
Click the image to see a larger version:
Transcript:
Narration:The next two interviewees joined the team that Stephanie founded, but what were their first choices?...
Panel 1- Antares: "Mine was The Awks. I was going to bring style to them, but I got rejected for my writing."
Juna: (in audience) "You had the attitude! You had the writing skills, but could've made your point more simply on your essay."
Valencia: (in audience) "Anyone who got rejected from The Awks or Highway to Shell for their writing shouldn't be too harsh on themselves! They may not have been judged by reasonable standards!"
(Bickering between Juna and Valencia in the audience while Damien sees it and backs away.)
Damien: "You're my friends, but I'm just going to back the fsck away..."
Panel 2- Katsumi: "Participants and audiences must leave their bickering until the episode is over and the cameras stopped filming!"
Juna: "Alright, and sorry."
Valencia: "We'll wait."
Damien and Piroska: "Thank goodness."
Katsumi: "Now, let's resume where we left off without any interruptions..."
The update for part 2 mentioned why Antares was chosen as one of the characters to be interviewed here, but this part reveals which team she auditioned for before CC! She wasn't finished with her explanation when two bickering audience members derailed it, and Katsumi had to step in as the show host. Those two audience members are Juna and Valencia!
Their appearances here show that they became frenemies since their appearances together in I Was a Software Developer...; VMS competed against UNIX, but Valencia also represents the VAX, which could also run UNIX early on. Since that UNIX variant is BSD, I think she and Damien could still be friendly rivals. Valencia might be ambivalent towards The Awks' philosophy but think Damien's approach is more agreeable than Juna's.
Damien and Piroska also appear; they're friends with Juna and Valencia, but didn't want to get caught up in their arguments. Piroska was a last-minute addition to this part; I added her since there was enough space next to Damien's second appearance.
There's a big time gap between the timeframe of IWASD and this comic. To put it lightly, a lot happened between those times that tested old friendships and alliances. What is shown now may be after a rebuilding of ties between some of them.
In the next part, this scene will be wrapped up and Regina will be interviewed. Updates will be made to several articles on the wiki, but I still plan to publish Petunia's next from her re-introduction in Part 2 of this comic.
