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It's Dan plotting out the preliminaries for his new cult movie project, Talk Club. Rule One: Do not fight about Talk Club.

Now you have me wondering if one of the magical artifacts might be an Endless Barrel of Exposition.

And with the box now open, a high-strutting bullfrog with a top hat and cane enters the scene singing "Hello My Baby".

My job often requires jerk-like behavior. Why should I be a jerk when no one is paying me?

All too much sense. It does strange things to the human mind to spend your time in complete isolation. Escape from that, no matter how strange the company, fills an essential need. It is difficult to see how he could have reacted otherwise.

With Dan's commentary, it would seem that Kevin is a more recent creation, rather than an inert artifact from a previous system. He not only knows modern English, but also gets Elizabethan English significantly wrong AND thinks the 'Ye Olde English' sounds sophisticated and 'mystical.' As for why Kevin, a wizard training device, would be considered useless (considering that even simple and benign wands can be used to awaken magic), he seems rather obnoxious and temperamental. The DGB probably just figured no one would be able to put up with Kevin long enough to get any use out of him.

This is possibly the best NP strip I have seen for quite a while. Susan being able to even temporarily overcome her inhibitions for some reason fills me with contentment.

Ashley, I know you were thrust from background to secondary to approaching-principal character status pretty quickly. But that is no excuse. You should have read the handbook and attended the staff meetings just like everyone else.

I think Kevin can only teach magic to wizards (and only wizards), he can't cast any magic himself, except perhaps in the process of teaching his apprentice (in which case either he doesn't have enough power to harm the Golem or he knows Ashely isn't ready to learn such spells and isn't willing or able to bend the rules on when he can use magic). As for the magpie, first of all we don't know it's going after the Golem - it could be going after a fourth, as yet unseen magical artifact. Secondly, while all these other artifacts activating around it might be what triggered it to act, it's also possible that it had been intentionally shut down and the magic released by the destruction of the Dewitchery Diamond turned it back on. In fact, I suspect that all these artifacts activating now is only related to the Magic Change in the sense that there are more potentially functional artifacts in the facility now than there were earlier in the day; I think it is the energy from the destruction of the diamond that's actually turning everything on. (Which means the same thing would have happened on a smaller scale even if Magus had done his resurrection trick before the Change. Pandora probably knew about this and didn't tell him, hoping to watch the fireworks; she'll be disappointed she missed it.)

Mph. As a kid I never did see the attraction. I was the social outcast and responded in the very mature way of taking pride in never doing what the other kids thought was cool. Drinking was one of these things. Also, my mother was an alcoholic and drank enough to ruin four lives. This led me to a conclusion I have not once had any reason to change. If I don't begin, I don't have to stop.

Dan, have characters avoid needless violence by talking to each other instead? How unprecedented! ;-)

April 6: 2002 - Sarah, Elliot, and Tedd all turn into squirrel people. Grace does too, but that's nothing new. 2005 - The fate of the Alpha Quadrant is sealed by an Idle Jedi. 2010 - Grace and Tedd dress up as rabbits. 2011 - Noah asks Justin about a Fire Thing. 2012 - Sarah falls out of bed. 2015 - Ashley shouts out that she's from California. 2016 - Tara and Andrea say goodbye to Nanase & Cheerleadra. Meanwhile, Grace looses Karma.

Elliot's best stance is "Ellen chooses. I'll back her up, whatever it is. You (Magus) do not get to choose for her. If she wants to be a male, I am fine having a twin brother now.."

Susan. Definitely Susan. She's like an intelligent, snarky Elliot, and ...

A minor kind-of-neat happy, but when I parked my car just now, the odometer was on exactly 96000. Round numbers are cool.

I take this as canon also.

That's actually one of the images I had in mind when I said I'd rather see Susan herself instead of some sort of distorted version of Susan. Going out in FV5 or some other "enhancement" is like going out in a costume, putting a barrier between those seeing you and your real self. In this NP, we get to see Susan as she really is, and that makes it more intimate even though she's only taking off one item of clothing instead of all of them.

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00248.htm

I love the smell of estrogen in the morning. It smells like victory.

Magus does have a fair point about the possibility of Ellen trying hard to convince everyone, including herself, that she's happy as a woman because she really doesn't have any choice about it. In fact, Ellen has said outright that differentiating herself from Elliot is the source of a lot of her personality traits that differ from Ellot's. We, and Elliot, have the advantage of knowing Ellen well and being pretty sure we can tell the difference between protesting too much and actually liking how she is now, but that doesn't mean Magus doesn't have some pretty good reasons for thinking that's the way Ellen would be reacting to things. Even Elliot looks like he's considering the possibility of Magus being right. Note, considering, not agreeing with, Of course, Elliot's first comment is likely to be that they need to talk with Ellen before transforming her, so she can talk Magus out of it, which is likely how we get into Magus's reasons for being in a hurry.

Wow, this is at the worst end of the range of possibilities I predicted - and that's before we get to the part where we learn Magus doesn't trust Ellen to make her own decisions. (He knows Tedd has the TFG, so it should be pretty obvious even without knowing about Tedd's newest powers that it would be easy for Ellen to assume male form. Sure the TFG's effects are temporary, but it can be re-applied, and at any rate the fact that she has yet to even assume male form once when it is in her power to do so should go to show that having a male form isn't a high priority for her if it's something she has any interest in at all.) I have a suspicion that Magus is actually quite conflicted about this issue and is doubling down on his prejudice in an attempt to justify his previous decisions and actions. This reads to me more like someone who is trying to convince themselves of their arguments than someone who is perfectly confident in what they're saying. Of course that only provides some hope he might be able to change, it doesn't help anything in the mean-time. (Edit: Come to think of it, it might just make things worse in the mean time.) On a lighter note, yay for starburst background in six! (Although actually the image of smiling Terra in panel four lifts my spirits far more than a cool background in an unhappy panel.) It would be rather nicely ironic to have Mr. "I Became A Man To Be Stronger" beaten by the super-powered female form of someone who spends most of his time in male form...

I am afraid it will not be that easy. Magus has a good deal of confidence in his magical power and it may well be justified. If there is a fight, it won't be an easy one. Most likely, but I strongly suspect that Magus's prejudices are coloring his perceptions and he might not be as strong relative to the main cast as he thinks he is. He's not going to be a push-over, he is a trained battle mage after all, but his own confidence, combined with those prejudices, could be his undoing.

Bollocking dihydrogen oxide. It gets everywhere and no-one seems to do anything about it. Do you realise that it is so prevalent that people are actually born dependent on it? It is so addictive that you can barely go without it for a few hours before you start to notice. It's a planetary crisis and the governments don't even care.

Pershing, Sherman, or Peabody, it doesn't change the fact that there's only one CD left!!! Thanks to any and all here who''ve bought one, and for those who haven't, there's still time to nab the very last one that will ever be made.

Susan was willing to play the game, at least in part, because the transformations that would happen to her would be outside her control. But now she must chose a temporary transformation. She must make that choice knowing that it is her choice alone. She must make that choice knowing that the others around her know that it is her choice alone. If you go into someone's home for a meal, you eat what you are served. If you go to a pot-luck or buffet, your choices are limited to what has already been prepared and presented. But if you are handed a menu, then the servers, the kitchen staff, and anyone who sees your dishes being presented knows that you have asked for that specific meal. It can, at times, be difficult to publicly admit "I want this".

On the one hand, I love the idea, the catly abandon with which Catalina stretches, and the fact that Susan is completely herself, from her appearance to her being turned on by watching. On the other hand, that tail is coming out the wrong place! The tail is a continuation of the spine; if it came out where it's pictured, Catalina's pelvis would have nothing to attach to! I know it can be hard to figure out how to combine clothing with tails, but completely breaking the anatomy just totally ruins any suspension of disbelief. Better to have it emerge from the shorts in the right place with no explanation, or give it its own little "leg", or have it emerge from one of the normal legs of the shorts, or anything else that's actually possible.

Take heart. That places you well ahead of a lot of people. The vast majority of Danish Parliament springs to mind. Idiotic as this may sound, my initial reaction on reading this was relief. After reading a couple of other posts of yours I was terrified that it might have been cancer. Migraines are awful and I would not wish them on anyone, but after having had cancer in close quarters in my own life I have developed a terror of it I cannot adequately explain.

Maybe he just identifies as male. After all he isn't referred to as the Demonic Drake.

That is ridiculous. The second Ibis would make the name feminine.

Well, we either have to believe he is so extremely bad at teaching wizards that he can be categorized as useless, or he was inactive until the magic changeover and really is from an older system of magic; his modern design could be part of his magic, appearing to the wizard in a form that seems appropriate to the wizard.

Let's see...based on what we've seen in the canon.... Susan was openly outspoken against the school uniforms from the moment they were announced, tried to get others to join her protests, and readily accepted that she would be punished for it. She might well have been an open dissenter. Which would mean she'd probably end up somewhere from ostracized to killed, depending on the regime. However, there is a darker possibility. Susan also bought into her mother's militant male-hating version of feminism for years, letting it shape most of her actions and associations. I could, sadly, see this potentially applying to a Nazi type view instead, in some alternate universe. Susan might embrace the tenents, approving of the BDM's encouraging girls in athleticism, job training, and education. If the Nazi views took the place of feminist views in this other Susan's life, then she might even embrace the goal of women being helpmates and support staff. However, just as our Susan changed her views when presented with evidence to the contrary, this alternate Susan would eventually see through the Nazi propaganda and indoctrination, and once she did, she would accept she'd been wrong, and find some way to fight against it. Only question would be whether it would be openly or underground -- Susan isn't so good at subtlety or dissembling, so I suspect she'd be open about it, and again, likely getting ostracized and eventually killed. What about Nanase? She spent years following along with her mother's wishes, being an excellent student, trilingual, dressing conservatively and not protesting the homemaker role too openly. However, when her mother wasn't around, she began changing into clothing she knew her mother would disapprove of. I could see Nanase being a good little BDM in public, but rebelling in the shadows, possibly joining some sort of fifth column group. If she knew Susan in this version, she might even be able to get her involved more discreetly once she discovered her change of heart.

Yesterday, I watched two birds fighting in flight. The smaller bird drove away the larger after about a minute of circling and diving. I suspect that either one of these birds would have been more than enough of a challenge to get Elliot's feathers ruffled.

Hm! Not good, but fortunate timing. I hope it is not anything too bad!

Since 09 April, 1998, Mark Stanley has been teaching us that Aliens, Robots, Artificial Intelligences, and Petty Criminals are often better people than the Respectable Humans who are actually in charge. Twenty Years of Freefall.

I suspect if you had some sort of "gender-meter" that you could point at someone and it would tell you objectively what gender-category best fit them, it would place Ellen outside or between the "male" and "female" categories (in whatever category "gender-meh" was labeled as). However gender is such a personal issue that I think how a person chooses to label themself (or not label themself) is far more important than what a gender-meter would tell you - and not just because there's no such thing as a gender-meter. Magus is extremely insistent he's male - so much so that I'm sure he's not gender-meh, and is somewhat insecure about his gender or how people perceive his gender; it's also clear gender has been a source of conflict in his life. This leads me to suspect two possible scenarios: Magus identified as female as a child and still feels female inside, and is trying to convince himself he made the right choice, OR Magus has always identified as male but no one respected or believed that and when he finally got the chance to transition he had to come up with some sort of justification for why he was doing so. I'm not sure which is more likely. Either way, Magus clearly currently wishes to be referred to as male, so until/unless that changes I intend to use male pronouns for him.

Today in future history: April 3, 2024. I finally perfect my time machine. But due to using artificial diamond in the central unit instead of a real one, I misjump several years back in time and the central unit burns out. To make matters worse, the first time I wait around long enough to attempt to warn myself I arrive just a moment too late. Maybe I will be luckier six years from now.

This. So much this. And if Ellen does chose to be male, they simply swap who is going to what school and Elliot changes to Ellen for school reasons. I can't see Ashley having a problem with that.

A lot of real-world people have parents who aren't evil, and are even well-meaning, who try to change who their children are. Does the lack of ill intent justify sending someone through so-called conversion therapy? Just because you brought another person into the world doesn't mean you have ownership of that person's identity. I'm probably not the only one for whom this turn of events hits a bit close to home (my best friend is dead because of this crap).

I'm reserving judgement--this boat has flown so far off the tracks I expected that I want to see where it parks before I calculate the orbit.

http://www.egscomics.com/?id=2479 Bugger that. Anyone else want to mount a defence of Saint Magus the Holy Innocent?

I would say the main mistake that Magus is making is that he considers himself to be the baseline Ellen when the baseline for this Ellen is Elliot, which would alter the situation in ways that he probably can't process right now. The secondary mistake is that they're wasting time arguing inside of a warehouse filled with active hoob-joobery.

I like how this arc and especially this comic have turned Magus from a plot device causing some conflicts into a complicated person - trying to do the right thing, but due to being from one society with faulty morals/ethics and trying to interact in another with a different set of faulty morals/ethics, is messing up - and seems a bit messed up BY said first society. An interesting show of faults in how society has often assigned gender roles and the negative effects it can have on people. Edit: (Though the isolation he suffered probably is also playing a role in his current state, and I'm most certainly not applying the "right thing to BEFORE he gained a body again. Here's to hoping he gets his needed correction sooner rather than later.) EDIT 2: Actually, not so sure if our society's flaws are relevant to this, re: one society acting in another.

There is a place where good intentions traditionally tend to lead. In fact, the road there is paved with them.

My predictions: Magus's motives: • Magus is transgender; he'd prefer a male form even without the battle mage thing. (His "It's part of who I am" kind of suggests that; it would also explain why he thinks our Ellen should be male, if he assumes gender identity is the same across universes (which it probably isn't).) • Switching sexes isn't fully accepted in his universe; there are people who are opposed to sex-change magic in general, who he feels he has to justify himself to. • His justification, his rationalization, to those people is that it makes him stronger, and that battle mages should be men, so he sees challenges to the idea that people should choose a male form to become stronger as challenges to the idea that he should have a male form. • Terra might be a cis woman, or might be a trans woman; either way could work. Magus is basically this person. I also predict that Magus is going to be a villain in the short term, but he's misguided rather than evil and so eventually he'll see the error of his ways. More like Abraham, and less like Damien, Tengu, or an aberration. He might go on a transformation spree first, though, which would put him at odds with the government, who probably still wants magic to be kept somewhat secret until Tedd can figure out a way to increase magic resistance, and/or with anyone who knows about magic secrecy but not about the change in magic. His magic might also be the ticking-clock type of enchantment.

So it's confirmed, Catalina and Rhoda are both switches. :-)

That is what she has her fairy dolls for.

I, for one, am glad that Magus was very up front about wanting to kill Sirleck and most importantly didn't hold back when the time came to do so. Having bad feelings about killing a monster AFTER you kill it isn't unexpected, but thinking that Sirleck was a friend before you made your attack would be. It's sorta a call back to Susan killing the vampire in France, in that it might very well be a life changer, but it didn't slow her down when it came time to do so.

magnificent

So the Hack has reached 1809? He must now contend with some of History's great trouble makers. Louis Braille Edgar Allen Poe Felix Mendelssohn Charles Darwin Abraham Lincoln Alfred, Lord Tennyson Kit Carson