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Welcome! 03/05/2016
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Tuscahoma
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Posts posted by Tuscahoma
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On 7/18/2018 at 0:32 PM, ChronosCat said:Except that (I believe) part of the purpose of sparring is to train muscle memory. As Sarah's spell takes place entirely in her head, it's questionable whether that would be helpful for training the muscles.
That is an excellent question. I suppose not. Perhaps improved versions of this spell might allow for that. The only real world uses might just be to gather information from the scanned areas (versus the entertainment uses).
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Perhaps Greg is not simply suggesting a haircut for shorter hair as much as suggesting a haircut for more stylish hair? Eh, eh, anyone?
As for a place to train, surely DGB has a place that would fit the bill (it would seem that at some time in the past they might have faced off against flying foes) and Arthur might be prevailed upon to let them use it. Perhaps they even have something like a VR system that would still allow for body training. And honestly, how had Greg not been approached to come on board as a trainer or something.
Barring that and barring someone providing a gymnasium loaded with inflatable stunt bags, perhaps if Sara practices enough, she can awaken and get a new spell that will allow her to bring friends into her VR world, which she could spar-proof against falling damage.
Oh, speaking of Sara and her using her spell, I guess sometime soon we will see Adrian get together with her to figure out how to disarm the Power Dam?
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Follow-up note: Wouldn't it funny if making semi-sentient magic items wasn't possible before, but now is.
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Perhaps, in the case of the "useless" items, items that were created using, what was until tonight, current system of magic, were "blocked" from working. The creators thought they understood how to create the item in question but found it didn't work. Perhaps the reason they didn't work is because certain aspects of magic were blocked or not "installed". Now that magic has changed slightly, so that it can be used by more people, those elements that were blocked or not "installed" are now working.
Perhaps making permanent magic items, or certain types of magic items is now easier. I can code an application for connecting to an Oracle database in Python completely correctly, but if the module for connecting to an Oracle database is not installed, my application won't work correctly.
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1 hour ago, Drasvin said:I'm not entirely certain that Kevin is from a previous system of magic. His design seems too modern and the facility did have artifacts that weren't inert in it. On the other hand, a wizard teacher doesn't seem like something that would be deemed useless unless Kevin is extraordinarily bad at teaching wizards.
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.
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10 minutes ago, partner555 said:1 hour ago, Illjwamh said:ASHLEY IS A WIZARD!
I'm sorry, I will be unable to focus on anything other than this for at least the next few hours.Yeah, same here, I mean, ASHLEY IS A WIZARD!?
Seriously, wow. Iron Golem automaton about to freak out and artifacts coming online in a cascade of terror, eh? But Ashley a wizard. Seriously, I am very stoked about that. Really, I am not being sarcastic. I mean, I know, the rest of that would be so very cool and edge of your seat, and of course we'll get an action scene with Elliot, Ellen and maybe Ellen, but Ashley is a wizard, with a Magic magic wand that talks and we get to see her learn spells by from other wizards and just... wow. I should go to bed now. Until Friday when new stuff posts. No, not really, but what else are the days going to bring to top that revelation.
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On 4/12/2018 at 8:46 PM, ChronosCat said:"Mirror" Universes can be fun, but they work best when the series is one with simplistic morality and not particularly deep world building; the more nuanced the characters and the more realistic the world building, the less sense it makes that everything could just be flipped morally like that.
I've never actually encountered a story where the Axis powers winning WWII led to the heroes becoming villains, and I'm glad of it, as that's pretty silly. Not everyone who lived in Nazi Germany (or Imperial Japan, or any other totalitarian state past or present) was (or is) evil, and if events went similarly enough to the main timeline for "alternate versions" of the main characters to exist at all, chances are their personalities wouldn't be all that different either. Of course there are circumstances in real life that can turn seemingly kind and morally upright people into monsters, and I wouldn't fault a story for using alternate universes to explore that, but to do that idea justice the story would have to treat the matter far too seriously to get any mileage out of the fun of seeing "bad guy" versions of "good guys".
I haven't kept up with the CW's Arrowverse so much recently (Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Riverdale), but they recently had a crossover event called Crisis on Earth X, and Green Arrow and Supergirl's alternate versions were Nazi's in that storyline. Not sure if anyone else was. Interestingly, Captain Cold was Citizen Cold in that storyline and was a resistance fighter.
I think it has been done elsewhere, but can't remember now. Not that it was that important to me.
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1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:Another unsolved mystery is what the heck is that white ovoid behind Ashley supposed to be? My first guess is that it's a speech balloon where Ashley's head-and-hair have covered up all the letters. My second guess is that Dan forgot to put in any letters or pasted over all the letters with Ashley and didn't realize it until he'd either already posted this comic, or said "screw it, I'm done!", or hasn't realized it yet. Or maybe it's actually an escaped artifact, perhaps from the crate of blank speech balloons that just fell apart...
I think it's the swish lines for Ashley's hair as she turns her head to watch the miniature Martian tripod march out of the crate.
8 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:Am I the only one who saw that succession of panels, and interpreted it as the side of the box falling onto all the little spirit-birdies, squashing them flat?
Nice touch, Ellen being visible in the bottom right.
Perhaps not, but I got a big chuckle at the though of one threat being squashed by another.
9 hours ago, partner555 said:Looks like the diamond was a prison for something.
This, this makes the most sense to me. Now what if what was trapped in there is somehow related to the creation of Ellen and Magus Ellen's body? What is the passing on the curse to others came from whatever this thing was, and Magus Ellen doesn't realize it, but he has this new ability as well. What if Ellen's spell that chain-transforms those near her until the spell runs out of power is related to this? And what if this thing can control beings touched by it's power? Woo-ooo-ooo! Or not. Could just be little spirit birds that will fly away.
Sheesh, an old artifact, perhaps prison for some kind of energy, being shattered while another artifact activates. Look out Ashley!
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16 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:That's what I was getting at -- Nanase isn't exactly a well-trained expert in flying fisticuffs either. She and Elliot would need to either find an airborne combat expert to train them, or work things out by trial and error, probably with Greg's help. Hmm, maybe he'd have the same sort of insight he had when he invented ASMA in the first place?
Yes, I can see this. If he hasn't been exposed to the right kind of anime, find some with flying combat or throw in some superhero genre stuff. With enough exposure he will work out an extension system of flight-based martial arts. And probably also develop some sort of flying ability as well.
Either that or find a way to steal a copy of the curriculum from Magus' universe's magic schools. Hmm, Beta Tedd's dimensional scope would have been helpful in that respect. Hmm, by now he might have developed an interdimensional internet browser, then you could look up the appropriate alt-universe youtube instructional videos.
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8 hours ago, The Old Hack said:I suspect not. I rather think she would strongly disapprove of the way these girls were taught. Even so, it would be mandated by the State that they join. Just as with the Hitlerjugend, there was no easy way around. Still, exactly Susan and Nanase are the sort of people to make any organisation rue compulsory enlistment.
That is one thing that does bother me about some alt-universe plotlines, especially the ones where Germany one and the heroes of our universe are all villains in the other universe. If that one event changed, it seems to me that what made someone heroic in our universe might enable them to see the villainy in their universe and fight it. So yeah, I can easily see Susan and Nanase being part of something, even secretly, that would be diametrically opposed to the establishment of a Nazi alt-universe.
And yes, I know that there is some plot gold in the notion that the heroes are now bad guys and some of the bad guys might be heroes and maybe you get to showcase some new heroes and the audience might groove to that, but... all of the heroes are now bad guys and enjoy being bad guys? Ugh.
Also, just sort of got around to remembering that Magus is most likely a wizard (or at the very least someone who has had magic for a longer time then our guys) and thus has a heftier spellbook, which definitely makes him potentially more powerful in some ways, but I do wonder what he would be like against a more experience magic user or a wizard of moperverse? How much bonus does he get from being in an academy for combat magic and being able to openly spar with magic? Does DGB have something similar? I suppose also you get the benefit of "many eyes make all bugs shallow" solutions to magical problems since far more people are using and researching magic in Magus' verse. So maybe not more powerful magic but more elegant or advanced?
Then again, I wonder if they have gotten around Scarf Aberration's solution to the issue of magic users (in a fight between magic user and gunfighter, who wins)? And I suppose this has been posited before, if Magus' universe has all that magic, where does their technology stand? If magic has worked as a solution to your problems like dragon raids, how much technology would you develop? Unless a dragon is truly impervious to non-magic weaponry, I would think dragons might have been hunted to extinction with the advent of things like jets and tanks and missiles. I suppose Magus must have some way to deal with technology, otherwise Pandora's warning of a Hawk and Mice wouldn't make much sense (though a Indiana Jone's style scene between Magus and Edward Verres, where Magus does some sort of kung fu like moves with accompanying lightshow of special effects, and Edward just pulls a taser and stuns him would be priceless).
Hmm, I seem to be rambling; that's some good coffee.
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From the beginning, Pandora warned that Magus was going to be a hawk and our world's mages would be mice. And Magus seems about the same age as Elliot, so a high school student, potentially a very talented student, is more than a match for our world's magic users. So his world's magic outclasses ours and is usable in our world.
Once the issue with Ellen is resolved, he plans to go back to his home universe, which would suggest he, or someone else, could return.
Now, once Elliot's world has a few centuries of magic being out in the open, we might see less difference in power, but this situation does open up a potential can of worms if someone in Magus's world learns of Elliot's world and is unscrupulous. Magical invasion?
I had hoped that something would prove a limiter to Magus' ability in a different universe, or that travel between universe's would be difficult and fraught with peril or "Only able to be done this one time for plot reasons!"
Cause frankly, once Arthur or Edward learn the details, figuring out a defense from the mages of Magus' universe would be fairly high priority (okay, not as high as dealing with magic coming out of the closet).
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As for Magus' worldview (and many in our world could be accused of having the notion that one must be a certain gender to perform certain jobs as well, and no, I do not believe Dan to be one to hold this point of view, but as the father to two daughters, I feel I must let myself rant a bit at a fictional character to let off some steam generated by the idea of how many things I must try to explain to my daughters as to why it's going to be harder for them):
Let us leave aside the ability for magic to level the playing field with regards to any perceived physical differences that may exist on the average. Let us leave aside the fact that if you consider that men may have an advantage in upper body strength (are we going to be wrestling dragons?) then you must consider that some think woman have advantages in other areas of physicality (those lovely Soviet female snipers of WWII that had such a reputation among the Nazis). Let us look at history and start a list with but a few counterexamples to how you must be a man to be a warrior (and there are so many more):
Ng Mui. She is said to have been a master variously of the Shaolin martial arts, the Wudang martial arts, and Yuejiaquan, the family style of Yue Fei. She is also credited as the founder of the martial arts Wǔ Méi Pài (Ng Mui style), Wing Chun, Dragon style, White Crane, and Five-Pattern Hung Kuen.
Lozen. She was a famous warrior and prophet of the Chihenne Chiricahua Apache. She was also the sister of an important chief called Victorio who described her importance during the battles: “Lozen is my right hand … strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people.” She also fought alongside Geronimo in the last campaign of the Apache Wars.
Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba. She valiantly fought and held off Portuguese control of present-day Angola for over thirty years during the early 17th century.Finally, even if we buy Magus' argument as valid, it still must always be our Ellen's decision. Magus Ellen needs to take a chill pill.
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1 hour ago, Scotty said:1 hour ago, mlooney said:That is pushing how a vow works.
Well obviously Abraham's vow is nothing like an Immortal's vow. I was thinking more along the lines of comedic value though.
"Hah, yes, Abraham, my name is Ellen Dunkel as well, and by your vow, you can't harm me! Mwahaha!"
<bonk!>
"Oh no, I violated my vow! What will I do!"
Yes, I can definitely see the comedic value of that situation.
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45 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:3. What about those reactivated artifacts?
There are a lot of them, and probably many more in locations Dan hasn't revealed so far. Any of them could become suddenly very important at any time, However, unless Dan has already worked out some reason for one or more of them to do its thing right now in canon, I think they can go off into the same limbo Lord Tedd has been in for most of the series since the end of Grace's Birthday Party.
Captain, the Chekhov's reading on the plot value of these artifacts are going off the scale. The plot canna take any more, Captain, she's gonna blow!
I dunno, I think at one might reveal itself before we're done with the warehouse scene. Though perhaps only reveal itself to the readers... like the Emperor's ring at the end of the campy Flash Gordon movie that was picked up by somebody... wait, tangent, was the Dr. Who scene where the Master's ring was picked up by a women a callback to that Flash Gordon scene? Never mind, my point was we might see an active artifact that the characters don't notice, but this would be the very least level of plot manifestation considering how they were hinted at.
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Honestly, whether you think of Magus as a good guy or bad guy or somewhere in between, I think a good measuring stick would be this, given what we KNOW of Magus' situation, no more no less, could you imagine Elliot doing what Magus did? I can't. We can postulate other circumstances, such as someone in dire need of Magus in his universe (Terra having to face some potentially lethal situation by herself in the coming future), but Magus didn't offer something like that as a justification. We know he faced torture from some immortals, but the French Immortals tried to keep him from going ahead with his plan, telling him he didn't belong or his time was already. I can see Elliot, even though the implication might be that the French Immortals are telling him he is a ghost and must move on (dying in effect), asking them for advice and help instead of running from them.
They might have been too obsessed with destroying aberrations to offer any help, but it would have been a risk Elliot would have taken.
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It is hard to imagine oneself in such a predicament as Magus was in, and who knows who he might have left behind that he felt desperate to return to, but, while I certainly wouldn't classify myself as a hero, I would like to think I would have either tried to find another way to contact Elliot and Ellen to ask for help (Pandora taught him to foul up machines and amplify emotions; use the same discipline that he needed to learn magic to figure out a way to foul up Tedd's machines in a pattern that shows intelligence and amplify Tedd's curiosity until she figures out someone intelligent is trying to make contact), or accept one's fate instead of violating Elliot and Ellen and risking Sirleck gaining a mage as a host. That said, Magus has certainly revealed himself to be a very nuanced person in this arc. He still qualifies as a villain in my mind.,
Plus, I think that Elliot will make sure Ashley and Ellen are gotten to safety once he as verified that Magus means them no further harm, but that look on Elliot's face promises an eventual beat down is imminent.
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2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:Sirleck dodged a bullet, only to get kicked out of a window.
I'm not surprised that Magus was able to dispatch Sirleck so quickly, once it was disconnected from a host and on the physical plane.
I am a little surprised that Ashley went into Fay Wray mode so quickly upon Sirleck's exposure. She did not seem the type to panic at the Mall a few weeks ago.
I guess Sirleck powers were more centered on being sneaky.
As for Ashley, there is some difference between facing fantasy griffons and Cthulhu-esque monstrosities. I probably would have lost some sanity points upon seeing Sirleck as well (Cthulhu RPG, where the goal is to see who holds on to their sanity the longest
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So, when Magus said, it should have been a red flag, I assume he was referring to Sirleck, that since Magus didn't ask about who Sirleck was going to possess after Ellen, this should have been a red flag to Sirleck that Magus was planning on killing him.
That's how I am reading that.
4 hours ago, The Old Hack said:5 hours ago, partner555 said:Huh, Sirleck went down quicker than I expected.
We must speak good of the dead.
He's dead. Good.
<golf clap> Yes, quite nice, good one. (Could let that pass without some acknowledgement
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I do hope that Elliot's ocular powers come into play. It would also be interesting if he is able to affect things in the spiritual plane because of the new spell.
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2 hours ago, ChronosCat said:While I love the fact that Ellen is fighting back, I hope Dan has a good explanation for why she is able to when none of Sirleck's previous hosts apparently could. The most likely possibilities in my mind are that it has to do with either her status as a Dewitchery Duplicate, or the change in magic. Another possibility is she has some spell not covered in the Ellen Demo which could help.
Edit: Actually, given what we know about the change in magic it seems unlikely it would have an effect on Ellen or Sirleck, unless maybe Sirleck was somehow using his own magic defenses to subdue his victims. I'm not going to totally abandon the idea until we know for sure, but it seems a lot less likely than I initially thought.
I was thinking that Sirleck never got around to possessing either awakened or mages, perhaps sticking to people with money, a nice outward sign of a successful host. He might simply have never gotten around to looking for a magic-user who might actually have greater than normal magic resistance. And Ellen, who is magical in origin, does have an advantage in magic resistance as has been pointed out.
In my headcanon, it's just because she is a bad ass. Cause you know, Bad Assery is a separate stat you can have, and comes into play at special dramatic moments.
1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:And why should you care, any of you? Well, consider what Tedd and Grace's kids will be like. If they can't inherit human magic potential, they can't be wizards or seers. Seems like ending the line that produced the most important Seer on Planet Earth for hundreds of years or even of all human history up to this day might be something that the Will of Magic would like not to happen. Ever wonder why Magic sent its Emissary to Grace?
Well, we know that the child of two mages, according to Pandora, is almost certainly another mage, but we don't know what the child of a mage and a Tulougol Seyunolu will be. We don't even know for sure how Grace can procreate (perhaps two different ways?) or if she inherited Mr. Guyur's ability to create eggs without a mate. Heck, for all we know, if Grace and Tedd want to ensure a mage child, they might be able to include DNA from a third donor, or it might be moot (might turn out that the child of a mage and a Tulougol Seyunolu will be mage always). Or the child might be more like Grace, who is herself a very powerful, important person.
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47 minutes ago, Scotty said:If the core is a wand, then it's quite possible the crystal "shell" might have been a seal to prevent people from using it, especially if it was particularly dangerous in the wrong hands.
Ooh, possibly a wand of transforming people. Possibly something that Ashley might pick up. Now, would an older artifact be capable of influencing it's wielder (as depicted in fantasy literature and media, such as the One Ring, Stormbringer, Death Note, Hand of Vecna and the Holy Hand Grenade)? If so, would it be able to influence the Ashley to use it, someone who is probably closer to a Lawful Good Paladin in terms of personal code than Elliot is, despite her inner fantasy life being more Chaotic Good with Neutral tendencies (hmm, Bugs Bunnyish perhaps, the Karmic Trickster - warning, link to TV Tropes, browse at your own risk). And finally, what if said wand transformed people with a ticking clock such that you must change back before the change becomes permanent? Best make sure said wand doesn't fall into the wrong Seer's hands.
Just a thought.
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1 hour ago, Scotty said:This is why I'm thinking the "diamond" was an artifact of an earlier magic system that was repurposed. Maybe Abraham didn't know what it really was either.
Oh my. If that were true... if the suppressed magic of an artifact was the real reason Abraham's spell was off, that would be interesting enough, something that might make Abraham less likely to to blame himself, but if that were true, the Dewitchery Diamond is a suppressed artifact, there is no way of knowing what will happen now when Magus tries to cast his spell, but I am betting it will be a big surprise all around.
4 hours ago, hkmaly said:BTW, anyone who still doesn't think Sirleck plans to possess Magus should look at Ellen's face in panel six.
True, but dang, that is such a non-Ellen face, it kind of creeps me out. Here's hoping Sirleck's plans get foiled one way or another.
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32 minutes ago, hkmaly said:Also possible alternatives.
And obviously, there is also variant to the first: artifact came to life, guard investigated, artifact posessed the guard and drove away with his car.
Ah yes, also very possible and weird.
33 minutes ago, hkmaly said:3 hours ago, Don Edwards said:As for the car missing - maybe the guard was dropped off by a friend or relative. Or lives close enough to walk to work.
That would be logical answer in Europe, but I suspect Americans don't do things like that. At least not when facility which is still top secret is involved.
Where I work in the states, there are plenty of people who car pool in, but my place of work deals with environmental issues, so being green-minded is encouraged. With regards to this facility, I think having each guard drive in would help lull thieves into thinking everything is business as usual and they can also predict how guards are present by the number of cars present.
12 minutes ago, ChronosCat said:Demon cars? Preposterous. They were probably just Decepticons.
(Come to think of it, maybe an artifact activated and brought the Guard's car to life. Hopefully it doesn't get triggered again, or Elliot and Ashley are going to have a hard time getting home.)
Ah, more direct, I like it. And the knocked out guard is propped up in the driver's seat and buckled in, to give some semblance of normalcy.
Or perhaps the artifact just mind-controlled the guard into leaving, making him believe his shift was over.
I love how the simple fact of a missing car is generating so many theories.
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So... something has already happened? Perhaps an artifact came to life, in a manner similar to Abraham, made some noise, the guard came to investigate, turning on the lights, and turns out the artifact was just hungry for a late night breakfast taco, so the guard offered to drive him to the all-night taco place. Makes sense, right?
Or, artifact came to life, guard investigated, turning on lights, and the artifact knocked him out, cast Modern Knowledge and drove away with his car?
Or, artifact came to life, guard investigated, turning on the lights, he noticed something weird happening but since magic knocked out cellphone, he drove off to warn the Feds?
See, the car being gone is weird. The lights on could be explained by someone investigating, but why is the car gone? Did the artifact eat it (you know, all-night taco place was closed for repairs)?
So yeah, seems like weirdness is afoot.
Story Friday November 02, 2018
in Comic Discussion
Posted
Personally, commenting on the Author's notes below the comic, I try to never mix people who's names are Magus or Magnus. You run the risk or either fireballs or metal projectiles.
Hmm, I think Julian is nice to be allowing Diane to apologize without any extra guff, though I wonder how he will react to Diane and Lucy? I mean, would he be tempted to tease her a little? Perhaps he would be shocked? Or just congratulatory.