Comic for Friday, October 24 2014

[Bellhead]

But if he decides to do a cutscene, which is more likely, it would take maybe a week, while Raine goes and wakes Red from his My Little Pony fantasy.

Don't you mean "My Little Wolfy"...?

YFW that is actually a thing:

http://goldenwolf.deviantart.com/journa ... -363040478

This is a thing?! Then why is MLP a thing? MLP shouldn't be a thing if this is a thing. Wolfs are so much better!

[Warrl]

4th panel
"arraigned marriage"

Shouldn't that be arranged?

I dunno, some marriages are a real trial...

[Him]

I can't really say much about what is happening. The only thing I can add to it is that I'm glad we have gotten this far...

[Zantax]

I have a feeling Zen is going to join the group as a guy tied to a stick that they point around as a compass to find the other group sort of deal.

[BadJoke]

Panel 2: one of the most epic faces of the whole comic.

But the rest... I find it very disappointing.

First, the resolution: I can deal with Zen surviving and all but I never saw such an anticlimactic conclusion before. Two/three words and done? Just discuss and you have it? Felix Mage is probably right, in three pages we will have everyone becoming friends (even Red who will have second thoughts just enough to remind us he's supposed to be racist...) and all will be cleared around a cup of tea. I hope Tom has something to make it funny or interesting because right now, it sounds empty.

Secondly, the mirror effect: the anniversary banner is quite clear about that, Group B is nothing but a copy/paste of Group A. The position of every character is explicit, they're like one group looking into a mirror (no need to name them). Rank 1)The human male with strange hair colour, ex-templar, ex-racist now in love with a furry girl. Rank 2) The open minded girl with a big heart who can see the good side of everyone. Rank 3) The assassin who failed at killing the group he finally joined. Rank 4) The guy who is different from the rest of his own people and is attracted to a stranger culture. Rank 5) Mascot. Rank 6-7) Duo of secondary characters, always together.
And of course a magic link between the two groups to make sure they stay in contact and have exactly the same psychological development. A shame, when two groups, following each one a different path, could have permitted to explore other situations, other relations and lead to other results and so would have been an interesting comparison (not a copy). Too bad.

I hope I'm wrong and Tom has more to offer in future but right now... it's just disappointing.

[BadFoMo]

Another thing that just came to my mind now that Zen's mission has been brought back up, what will the Brotherhood think of his traveling with the targets?

Natani gets away with it because the mission was changed from eliminating Trace and Flora to simply following Trace and only eliminating him if necessary. She is still technically following her orders

Zen on the other hand, unless the Brotherhood does not owe their loyalty to anyone (serving only the highest bidder) and someone has an interest in keeping the members of Group B alive, I just don't see him getting the same pass.
[PRE-EDIT]
While writing down the option B a reason dawned on me. If they somehow found out that Raine knows the location of Lyn`knoll they could order him to travel with them in order to find this place. Why they'd want to know where this place is, I don't know, but it would give him the pass he needs.


I could see this going two ways for Zen.

A. Zen pretty much abandons the Brotherhood in order to travel with his new companions. This could prompt the Brotherhood to somehow get in contact with Natani (since she still is technically following her orders and hasn't abandoned the Brotherhood) and give her the job of carrying out her brother's contract, and then eliminating him for abandoning his duties.

B. Zen still travels with his new companions, but is still secretly loyal to the Brotherhood and is waiting for a better opportunity to carry out his contract.

[Bellhead]

BadMoFo, I think that option B would be more likely to occur, but I also think that living with group B, albeit as a prisoner, would be a better life than he had before he left. As I stated earlier, I think he will choose to abandon the Brotherhood in the end, it's just a matter of time. By the way, what makes you say that the Brotherhood can still contact either of them? The only instance we see of it was here, "I'm speaking through him on behalf of our king." I think their only communication to/from either of them was with one of them present.

First, the resolution: I can deal with Zen surviving and all but I never saw such an anticlimactic conclusion before. Two/three words and done? Just discuss and you have it? Felix Mage is probably right, in three pages we will have everyone becoming friends (even Red who will have second thoughts just enough to remind us he's supposed to be racist...) and all will be cleared around a cup of tea. I hope Tom has something to make it funny or interesting because right now, it sounds empty.

What makes you think that they'll trust an assassin just because he has connections to people they know? As was stated earlier, he's still in mortal danger. He probably saw an oppertunity to get on their good sides, and took it.

They won't be all nice and happy and ride off into the sunset. I think the banner may even have been overstating it a bit. He's still a prisoner, and likely will be for a while. He's screwed, plain and simple. He's just trying to get less screwed than he currently is.

[Chris]

Rank 1)The human male with strange hair colour, ex-templar, ex-racist now in love with a furry girl.

Though in Red's case, he's obviously bothered by the fact that she has a furry side, unlike Trace who was criminally oblivious. I mean, Trace didn't miss a beat as he and Flora fell for each other, her species was entirely irrelevant to him, while Red's certainly going to have have issues looking beyond what Raine is. It wasn't that long ago that Red just barely stopped himself from saying that she's better without "the face of a dog/animal" right to her.

Rank 2) The open minded girl with a big heart who can see the good side of everyone.

Though in Raine's case, she's not beyond having dangerous threats killed, whereas Flora willfully put Trace and Keith in danger.

Incidentally, Raine prefers to be human because of how people treat Keidran. Flora once had a dream about wanting to be human, but that idea has never came up again beyond that page. Much like the Trace-Flora-Keith love triangle plotline that was scrapped, only to possibly show up again with Red-Raine-Sythe, Flora's I-don't-want-to-be-an-animal plotline seems to have been dropped only to possibly show up again with Raine.

And something else that can make the Red-Raine-Sythe dynamic unique is that Sythe likes her as a keidran, while Red likes her as a human, and Raine does have some reservation about Red's sincerity that they're still friends which could end up pushing her toward Sythe. Group A never really had a situation like that.

Rank 3) The assassin who failed at killing the group he finally joined.

It's yet to be seen what role Zen will have with Group B. As Natani once said, Zen is the more vicious of the two of them. And while Zen is quite likely going to join up with Group B in some capacity, he doesn't quite have someone to connect with in the group like Natani did with Keith.

A shame, when two groups, following each one a different path, could have permitted to explore other situations, other relations and lead to other results and so would have been an interesting comparison (not a copy). Too bad.

It still could be. Unlike Trace, Red's quite capable of having future problems with Sythe's, Zen's, and Raine's furriness, and unlike Natani, Zen is quite capable of having future problems with Maren's, Red's and Raine's human-ness. Group B has barely gotten started, really, and we have yet to see what Maren and Karen will think of all these developments when they wake up (Karen will love it all, no doubt, but who knows what Maren will think of Zen traveling with them).

[imalbert]

And while Zen is quite likely going to join up with Group B in some capacity, he doesn't quite have someone to connect with in the group like Natani did with Keith.

By default (since the others have been claimed) Zen will end up with young Karen Taverndatter. I hope he will be up to the challenge.

[BadJoke]

What makes you think that they'll trust an assassin just because he has connections to people they know? As was stated earlier, he's still in mortal danger. He probably saw an oppertunity to get on their good sides, and took it.

They won't be all nice and happy and ride off into the sunset. I think the banner may even have been overstating it a bit. He's still a prisoner, and likely will be for a while. He's screwed, plain and simple. He's just trying to get less screwed than he currently is.

Yeah but if the banner is representative of the future, which is probable, the situation will end up calming and he will finally join the group. That's why I called it a spoiler: we already know how this situation will be solved, and it cut off all the fun. (Except if it's just a joke from Tom, but that's unlikely.)

A shame, when two groups, following each one a different path, could have permitted to explore other situations, other relations and lead to other results and so would have been an interesting comparison (not a copy). Too bad.

It still could be. Unlike Trace, Red's quite capable of having future problems with Sythe's, Zen's, and Raine's furriness, and unlike Natani, Zen is quite capable of having future problems with Maren's, Red's and Raine's human-ness. Group B has barely gotten started, really, and we have yet to see what Maren and Karen will think of all these developments when they wake up (Karen will love it all, no doubt, but who knows what Maren will think of Zen traveling with them).

I hope you're right. I really hope.

You must not have read/watched/played much before then.
Even in otherwise good works of art, there are many anticlimactic moments much worse than this.
This kind of plot twist(assasin/enemy joins the group very anticlimatically, and with not much dialog about it at all) is actually very common too.

...And how is that supposed to be good news? Because the others doing it worse than you doesn't mean you're making it good.

[InceptionBwaaa]

Let's discuss the comic and not each other, please.

On topic: I think Raine and Sythe will talk with Zen for a while, maybe 3 or 4 pages, and Red will try to squeeze the information for an antidote out of him as Karen and Maren wake up. We'll know because we'll hear their bickering.

[CrRAR]

Yowza there Sythe, leading with the crazy paw first. It's risky.

I think I know why the eyes (besides psychotic Sythe) are so cute looking in recent panels. They're reminiscent of stuffed animal eyes! Bigger pupils = bigger cute!


Isn't he sooo cute!

So Zen will probably now talk about how his Brother Natani is off with Group A and that he'd give anything to meet back up. Queue the epic adventure foretold!

[Darkfur]

If Tom chooses this moment for a group transition, I'm gonna bend a spork. :<

[Stormlight]

So Zen will probably now talk about how his Brother Natani is off with Group A and that he'd give anything to meet back up. Queue the epic adventure foretold!

Either that or he promptly tries to pretend that he's still sleeping, much to Sythe's and Raine's annoyance.
"Um, I mean zzzzzzzzzz..."

[InceptionBwaaa]

So Zen will probably now talk about how his Brother Natani is off with Group A and that he'd give anything to meet back up. Queue the epic adventure foretold!

Either that or he promptly tries to pretend that he's still sleeping, much to Sythe's and Raine's annoyance.
"Um, I mean zzzzzzzzzz..."

I would be so entertained. 69ridiculous420me.