I have been surfing the Monster Hunter fanfic corner for quite a while until I found this particular fic. not gonnal lie, I stumbled upon a really shiny gem. been literal years since I found a fic that ropes me in this much. It's a perfect example of how I imagine the world in MH is. Wes' personality went from being bratty, stubborn and prideful in the beginning, to grow up and became someone mature and level headed. Loved the character development, the side characters too. Overall, really loved the fic, brightened my mood up for the past few weeks. Had a thing to look forward to after a long day in school. Thank you for making such a wonderful read

Great chapter
Great story

While your first story I read (The Hunter’s Oath) felt a little underwhelming with its short & to-the-point chapters, The Master Corps ended up being such a damn good story that it was consuming all my free time to keep reading it for the past week and a half.

I’d actually daresay its on par with if not better than Dashboardgecko’s “The Lost Civilization” story, whose “DLC” sub-story is what even allowed me to find your work at all.

Amazing work, you deserve more recognition for this masterpiece than just my review.

Both of Wes parents have brown hair... But he's blonde(according to the front cover)? LOL

Welp, I'm finally back to give my conclusive thoughts. Took me bloody long enough, didn't it? Sorry bout that by the way. Part of the reason it's taken me so long is that I was skimming through chapters to refresh my memory so that I wouldn't overlook anything significant, but three months and seventeen chapters later I've realized I wouldn't be able to write this in a timely (timely, he says...) manner if I went through with that. So yeah, apologies in advance for any misguided critiques or comments brought about by my poor memory.

Anyhow, let's get to it, shall we?

Firstly I have to commend your action sequences once more. They are certainly one of the strengths of the fic, and you as a writer. The detail and flair in the fights never fail to entertain, with even those which fall short of the usual standard being far from boring. Just as important is the set up and build-up to many of them, with the way you present threats and build anticipation for an inevitable encounter adding to the enjoyment of many fights. My personal favorites are Gear Rex arena fight, Hade's hybrid-form battle, doll-jho's rampage through Loc-lac, and York's first encounter with the Zealot. Honestly, there's really nothing I could suggest that would improve on the action, just keep doing what you do!

The narrative's best asset are its characters, with very colorful and personable examples that are instantly engaging and eventually compelling. Wes is a fairly nuanced main character with a lot of traits which make him both a good central character and an excellent agent to the story's ideas and themes. Viper is similarly good for the latter reason, his hard stance on justice tying in nicely with the subject of morals and judgement which present themselves throughout. Amethyst is a riot, Snow is an effective stance to the hybrids' plight, and Trance's relative mundanity and earnest disposition feel fresh in light of the rest of the characters. Of course, there's Silver, who's wit and charm made him my personal favorite character and whose presence changes the dynamics of Wes' characterization and narrative. You've done an excellent job creating and developing these characters, they're a joy to witness.

The main thrust of the story takes a while to get going, however this approach is fine as the characters and action hold up the story perfectly while intrigue is built and plot is set up. In fact I dare say the pace in the introductory portion of the story is better than the latter half where the narrative becomes denser and more prominent while still maintaining significant stretches between story beats. As for the narrative itself, it remained interesting throughout, with the weakest aspect being Balestra's plan as antagonist. Balestra's unrealistic expectations for his plans conflict with the calculated planning and frugal cynicism that he displays throughout the story, and the assumption that he was just insane all along actively hurts his character. Making his plan simply absolute eradication of humanity, or its active subjugation would have made for a more consistent characterization. It's the only black mark on a solid plot. I also feel the concept of hybrids wasn't explored as thoroughly as it should've, but that's a relatively minor complaint.

What are ostensibly the themes of the story are generally interesting, and the more prominent ones, such as morality, the burden of expectations, and humanity's place in the world, are well developed, but at the same time lack a good sense of cohesion with each other. The connection between the morals and humanity is evident, but neither seems all that closely tied to Wes' inferiority complex which plays such a major role in the story. Granted, thematic concepts can be hard to grasp and somewhat subjective, so my perception of the story may be way off base from what your intention as a writer was, and therefore my critique unwarranted. Nevertheless, it is good to know the extent of that gap if one is to attempt to narrow it.

As for the climax and ending; they where both adequately satisfying. It was a great cap-off to the pleasant journey that was the The Master Corps. There are some elements that I think the story could have done without, namely the use of an all-too-convenient Deity, but that could just as well be warranted by further use of it in your following stories that makes its relative peculiarity here worth it. Heck, I can already think of ways it'll come up if what you'd previously told me about the space-time mumbo-jumbo in Mila's upcoming adventures is still in place. Speaking of Mila, I definitely didn't expect her to be Wes' daughter since you've stated the next story would take place "a while" after TMC, which I'd taken to mean "certainly a significantly greater length of time than the time between THO and TMC." Guess the Adler family will remain at the center of things for at least some more time.

Welp, this review certainly shrunk a lot after I cut off a lot of the fluff and unimportant bits. Hopefully it'll have been worth the wait, Hawk. Can't say for sure whether I'll be reviewing any more frequently in the future, but this Hurricane Florence Business will ensure I at least have the time to check out the two other things you've posted since this one's conclusion in the next couple of days. Look forward to it!

Have a nice day!
"Adiós!"

FINALLY! Someone that uses Dual Swords.

I started reading TMC in dec last year, and with Christmas rolling around again it’s very satisfying aswell as somewhat sad to have finally finished reading this masterpiece. In my opinion this has been one of the most structured and fleshed out fan fictions I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. So thank you Thomas and gecko for putting the obviously large quantity of thought and effort into this story and it’s characters. I look forward to your future work. Happy Hunting!

I just want to say. thank you. Really, this story (more like, the entire series) is my favorite series here in Fanfic. I love how you write and illustrate, how you construct and describe the characters and scenes. I love everything in this story. I love the plot and how you constructed it, EVERYTHING! And right now, when TMC has finally ended, I'm just- I feel kind of empty. I mean, it's great that you finished it but now... Well I guess I still have the DLC you were talking about, so yeah... Right now I'm just kind of speechless, I can't really collect my thoughts, it's just so... vivid? Either way, this story has been quite a journey and I just want to say congratulations for finishing it! You really helped me escape life sometimes with your writing and you were always able to put a smile on my face, specially when I see that TMC has updated. Anyway, that's all I can say for now so bye!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ...ok I'm done. Now where to start with this? I suppose a "hi, I'm finally actually leaving one of these" would be a good start. I have you, and TMC in particular, to thank for getting interested in writing, this is just entirely too well done, I'm jealous, and rambling. When judging favorite characters from here I almost feel obligated to skim through the whole thing again to make sure I don't miss anyone, but if I'm not biasing it and just saying Ivory's the best, I'd have to give that crown to good 'ol Viper, I mean what's not to love about the guy. As far as favorite villain I'd have to say Arroyo, even if I did forget his name. Not because I sympathized with the guy, not in the slightest, but I just like a plain and simple bloodthirsty character I suppose. A villain that just kills for the sake of killing might not be great to add plot depth with but I'll be damned if they aren't a fun fight to read. Anyway now that I've got some closure here maybe I'll finally make some damn progress on my own writing, also I'm gonna stop while this is still semi-sensical.

Great ending to a great story. You won't be alone in hunting on the Xbox. I'm for sure getting MHW when it comes out and can't wait to see what you come up with for your next one.

That was such a good ending I'm really gonna miss tmc I started reading it about a year ago from like this week now that I think about it. I loved wes and viper especially although sliver was and forever be my favourite snarky badass ever. I'm glad I was bored one day and decided to start this fanfic. I have to say I almost wish that sliver would of shown back up with the fight with york but that wouldnt make story since but just want to see my forth wall breaking maybe maybe not god figure. I can't wait for the next adventurehave a good one hawk.
-flamesonwater

Goddamn im fucking crying
that just not fair Silver and Frost... my favorite Character(no homo) just gone...
i ship WesRuby bythway

Noooo! Whyyyyyyyy?! I...can't even really be mad since your writing is so good! The emotions invested almost float off the screen, and the way you fleshed out these characters...brilliant! But still...why?! Why would you be so cruel?! Giving me and other shippers hope by that battle flirtation between Wes and Ruby, and even some warm scenes in this chapter, and then go with the other ship?! I've been waiting, hoping that would work out and then just...sigh...I'm going to go pick up the shattered pieces of my heart, as I wait for the next chapter of this story. Til then, keep up the good writing.

Now, having finally caved and watched both all of RWBY and all of Red Vs. Blue, I'm seeing some of their inspiration on you. Balestra's clearly got hints of Director Church. The whole 'Master Corps' thing is based on Beacon. And that's cool. Your stuff is inspiring. It's great to see the inspiration behind that inspiration. I've been following along with this story for three or so years. While I left Fanfiction writing behind to pursue my studies, I still kept reading. The Master Corps is a testament to your growth as a writer. I haven't seen an unnecessary exclamation mark in years, your characters have become less like Archetypes and more like people. Thomas. A. Hawk? I salute you.

The beginning of the chapter gave me the initial impression that it wouldn't be the beginning of the climax quite yet, but then I remembered the title and I knew it was but a matter of time.

I see there's some more hunters joining our regular characters for this operation, which means it'll no-doubt be difficult!

Welp, thing's have gone to shit so soon and it's turning into a veritable hellfire out there... I'm already enjoying myself!

I certainly didn't expect there to be Golems. Their introduction heavily reminded me of a similar event in Fullmetal Alchemist: Bortherhood.

Zealot has gone rogue, as expected of a Grey Fox expy. His battle with York was most entertaining, though I have to say his dialogue was a tad too much on the edgy side.

Wait a second... Did Ruby just ask Wes out on a date? Didn't expect that. The shippers must be ecstatic!

Teams have split up to pursue their tasks, and it seems things are coming to a head faster than I had anticipated. Can't wait to see what's next!

Ugh. As someone who's currently writing a twelve part medieval epic with no shortage of grand-scale battles; I'm in complete accordance with the tedium and challenge of writing engaging large-scale battles with many a named characters. Even short skirmishes take forever to plan out and execute when there's crazy amount of characters... Anyway, yeah, I sympathize on that part.

I'm so relieved there's going to be a demo for Double Cross, meaning I don't have to drop fifty bucks just to try out brave style when I won't be able to enjoy the full game. Stories is looking as well as ever, though I don;t think I'll have to the time to play it immediately, so it's likely a holiday purchase.

As for World... I'm still rather concerned, frankly, though I'm relieved combat is still mostly the same. I don't like at all what they've done with the Greatsword, and so far there's been no new moves for the Lance either. However, Hammer looks freaking awesome, and dual blades look as sick as ever.

Great chapter! Really going to be excited for the upcoming chapters!
Have a nice day!
"Adios"