hkmaly

Maybe, although I think there was lot of teasing in it. We got whole page just to get to the question. I fully expect whole today's page would be filled with Ellen explaining something, and it might still need another page to get to conclusion. Which would be she doesn't want to be male.

Whereas I chose my avatar, first Emu Hino and now Psych Student Pandora, because of a resemblance to how I look in the real world. (I got a haircut in between.) I'm using similar logic when choosing my avatar in games, but just because they are closest to my appearance from the very limited set of available options, I don't think I really look like William Riker or Ash Tyler. (Hmmm ... Riker is closer, I have blue eyes, not that such detail would be visible on the size of game avatar.)

My point was that you probably doesn't look like that. (I'm also not looking as my avatar, but given my avatar is big letter I don't think that would surprise anyone.) His mother is supporting it.

Maybe Dragons were like Uryuoms*, where their magic came from within, and thus never affected by system changes. *Not related to them, just saying that it might be possible that Uryuoms aren't the only beings that would generate their own energy. Yes, that's exactly what I meant by "naturally magical". The exact term is species with magic interwoven into their very nature. I have no idea what point you're trying to make with this comment. Most hotel rooms have phones. Caller ID would say "Hotel Snooty" not the name he registered under. The pizza girl and the hotel registration would have no contact between them. No one would see any disparity. I'm pointing out that NSA is wiretaping lot of phone calls as part of their Terrorist Surveillance Program and using data-mining software to search for "interesting" words in them. DGB can have similar capability and/or have ways to insert more words into the software. Even assuming the wiretaping is not completely global, hotels might been monitored due to high amount of foreigners in them.

... no trading YET. It was just announced it will be soon ...

I don't recall any "uncle" moment, though I do recall the episode where Picard calls Riker "Dad". mind you Picard had been the victim of a transporter accident that made him and 3 others physically 12 years old and he pretended to be Riker's son for the purpose of helping retake the ship from some Ferengi. Still an awkward moment for Riker to have someone who is probably old enough to be HIS father, calling him "Dad". Google is your friend. "I know who you are." "Then you have the advantage." "You're my nephew Jean-Luc from the starship Enterprise." "Then you must be my uncle René." "I'm not your uncle. It's the other way around." "Too bad. I rather enjoyed the idea." https://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Family_(episode)

http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/gam-04 I see Justin agree which Grace-a-monster is coolest ... and George repeats my warning that strategy-wise it's the worst, because first two bosses are rock-type and water-type. And Nanase then chooses water, which for some reason surprise Justin despite naming her "Bubbles". Also, yes: giving the not-grandson first choice is illogical - wait. Actually it's pretty logical. George doesn't want to be accused of nepotism. Except he didn't though it through and it backfired because now he would be accused from planning this scenario, despite him really being all about love and friendship and just naive enough to not predict this. And finally: Nanase isn't exactly min-maxing. Unless she knows that the player character is going to be important and someone worth min-maxing against. She simply chooses the best counter to show player character she doesn't like him.

That's true. However: 1) Even Elliot stated that while uncomfortable with it first, he wasn't THAT MUCH uncomfortable. 2) Starting out uncomfortable then getting used to it may mean switching back will be uncomfortable with needing to get used to it again too. 3) Seriously, look at Nanase. She's worth it. I would be tempted to switch to female just to get her too, and I think I would be more uncomfortable with it than Elliot. That's the thing, Ellen would be like "make Magus feel better, but hurt Nanase....NOPE!" More like "Hurting Nanase? ... NOPE! .... it does hurt Magus as well? Bonus!" Never? Not true. They just skip being mature and move directly from adolescent to childish when getting old. ... considering the avatar is actually Adrian Raven ... who IS using illusion to look old ...

The argument could have been that there needed to be some way of being able to defend against magical creatures like dragons, if the last attempted system change occurred when magic creatures were getting out of hand and more people turned to Magic for protection. The paths that the WoM could have taken at that point could have been "There are other ways to protect yourselves" or "Magic will make minimal changes to accommodate this request" or something to the effect that lets Humans continue using it. That would be one possible argument, although it would require magic not being able to do anything with dragons directly (which is possible - they may be so naturally magical they are outside the scope of possible changes).

Actually I was being partly facetious, but I did have something in mind like an underground faction of people lacking in the ability to work magic and in self-defence working out different ways of doing things. Or alternately something like a state of warfare between technology and magic. Possibly like the Ascension War from the earlier edition of Mage: the Ascension but with the technologists on the losing side. Problem is, unlike magic, technology is HARD to hide from your enemy in war. Especially losing one. (Still easier that in that class-based society.) (Case in point, Dragonell cannons) Underground faction? Maybe. Or some distant island which formally is in peace or at least armistice but is secretly developing technology to continue in war later. But they didn't had much technology when they lost battle last time.

Really? Nanase might disagree. I'm not sure what you speak about now. Nanase definitely likes Ellen as girl. Note: As one example, didn't Ellen just few hours ago wanted to read her spellbook? Did she? Or does she postponing it to morning? You wouldn't? Unless he overdoes it like Nanase's mom, there is no problem with it. He can always claim he just changed hairstyle and used some face cream. In fact, maybe he did, we can't prove he asked Tedd for watches with younger form. (Also, does he really look so much younger than few months ago?)

Like, strictly cast-based society with technology cast keeping even details about technology secret from magic users and vice versa?

... in this comics, we probably shouldn't be surprised. Sure, Ellen has dragon power, magic went public, Tedd got lab ... but the most important issue to solve is if Ellen is really really ok with being girl. ... like, yes, it is important, but I though there is nothing to add to it after this page. Guess I was wrong. Not only there is something to add, it's apparently long enough to warrant whole awkward page just as setup. (Also, it means we won't find out if Magus asked the pizza delivery girl out. Or in.)

That sounds logical, except they obviously did NOT solved the problem with dragons. Also, Tedd basically convinced magic that keeping magic secret is futile ; I don't think it would be possible so much earlier. Of course, that doesn't rule out some seer convinced magic by different argument. We know that Magic on second half of EGS universe didn't cared about being public. Maybe Magus's world magic is similar? Maybe Magus's world have second half with secretive magic and more advanced technology?

And COULD it? In that advices to Magus, I assumed the physical laws in his universe are same as EGS's one. But maybe they aren't. He didn't even arrived here with body to prove his body physics is compatible with EGS universe. Still, worth the try. Relativity too. Lot of electronics needs to be build with the knowledge of speed of light used, and GPS satelites needs to account for time dilation caused by them being in lower gravity than on Earth's surface. Sorry, phrasing wasn't clear, I didn't mean he'd let Ellen have his own phone, but he would have given her A phone to use. Then we agree. And don't forget Ashley taking pictures of Elliot's Cheerleadra 2.0 form, was that her phone she used, or Elliot's? I guess it probably doesn't matter now if Elliot never uses that form again and with magic being more open there might not be as much effort to cover up incidents anymore. Probably her phone. But don't worry, she gets her own DGB-secured phone soon ... and they will copy the content from her old phone to it and then wipe the old phone with EMP. And even if someone already did get to those pictures, they probably don't really prove anything more than what is already public between the videos from previous Cheerleadra fights and Voltaire calling Elliot by name. It's not like she recorded the conversation or taken video - it's just static images. Still, I'm sure both her and Elliot will be told it was bad idea when Edward finds out.

The phone was probably supplied by Arthur, might have had measures to prevent backtracing as well. Nanase likely didn't know it was Ellen until she answered. Supplied? Yes. Arthur's own? Unlikely. IMHO fresh from storage. I'm pretty sure the "regular" phones they are using are not regular either. Remember how Tedd wasn't allowed to talk about secret stuff on landline? Yet they talked about fighting monster, summoning, transforming, awakening and Lord Tedd later. Seriously they hardly missed ANY top secret stuff in that conversation - they were TALKING ABOUT HOW EASY IS TO GET MAGIC. But it was OK, because it was Tedd's DGB-issued phone with top encryption and special secret "do not record" flag in communication. All main eight got one. He should get that TOO. If he's smart. It's not one or other, he needs the rocket to show it's worth it and all sort of documentation and small chips done by obsolete technology to show how to do it. Chemical side of it too.

Even Mr. Magus is likely to draw attention of DGB. But yes: using Elliot's card would draw even attention of Elliot. Left at the Dunkel residence likely. I don't think Magus would have trashed them or dumped them out the car window halfway to the facility. Ellen was using phone here - but thinking about it, it was probably borrowed one. Magus offered to show Sirleck how to turn straw into gold. As Sirleck pointed out, any such action would quickly result in devaluation of gold, so I suspect it's not worth much there. Good point. Microelectronics it is, then. If Magus would be smart, he could start computer revolution on his world with stuff bought for just few hundreds dollars. Although I suspect he wouldn't be so smart and would forgot some important detail. Like, just bringing CPU would be useless: even WE don't have technology to open current top CPU and get the scheme from it, it's just too small. (It was being done with 80386, though.) With millions, he could bring something like mapping satellite with him. He would still need to get it to orbit, but imagine how much easier would be fighting dragons with ability to track them from heights they can't reach. (That is assuming they don't have that technology already, but that's what I'm expecting from civilization of people not knowing how cars works.) Also, it's still open question if say FIM-92 Stinger wouldn't be usable upgrade for them ... U.S.$38,000, not so costly ... 1) Makes sense Sirleck would prepare something like this 2) He doesn't need to bribe anyone. He can cast some spell on them. Just because he gave the pizza place the name Magus, doesn't mean that's the name he used when getting the hotel room. He could easily pay cash for pizzas without raising any suspicions. But he used PHONE to order the pizza. It's the absence of connection between the old host and the new one that makes this more difficult and risky than necessary. There are a variety of ways to create a connection that will easily pass routine inspection, but they take some time and the new host must physically exist in the same universe as the old one. In this instance, the butler was a suitable candidate. Alternatively, Sirleck could have adopted and become the benefactor of an orphan, and changed hosts at some point in the orphan's life when the abandonment of prior non-family connections is pretty common - such as graduation from high school or college. Prior instances - there's no reason to assume he chose to do things the hard way. He didn't have the incentive of his intended new host being a wizard. Hmmm ... that WOULD actually match the fact he complained that it takes time to setup this ...

Ellen also had car keys. Did Magus remembered to take Elliot's wallet? Because he might not have it for date at home. Unless he keeps it in jacket ... which makes sense actually ... I still wonder where their phones were. Probably. Except, again, both would probably be traced by DGB. Not sure if hotels report who's accommodating but ATM card and credit cards definitely do report any use.

Credit cards DEFINITELY not. Those only work by connecting to issuing bank. But, he might convert that money to gold or something ... or better: microelectronics. That might be VERY valuable on his world. Probably not. ... transforming Ellen? I'm sure he could. Now, would they survive detailed introspection? That's the question. I think that even now, moving to different state - like, from US to EU - could help considerably. As foreigner, you don't need to produce so convincing set of documents as local person ... Nevertheless, Sirleck DID done so before. He considers it hard but doable. ... yes. Although as far as we know, that MIGHT've been previous plan ... Magus's powers and no scruples? Would be worth it.

Or Elliot. The person who has the original of Magus' body, has a legal identity, and has a physical history in this world. Besides the sex, Ellen looks almost exactly as Elliot. Can you imagine any bank clergy or anyone else just remotely official daring to mention any problem in such situation? Occams razor in such case says Ellen is transsexual and pointing it out would be rude. Good point. Besides Dunkels searching on their own, someone else might decide to use them. Although he will probably find out they are not so easy target as he expected ... (... still, easier target than Magus, and definitely easier to find.) This is where Dan's not specifying what exactly Sirleck used might not be sufficient. Yes, Magus requires some ID. Yes, it would be easier if it would be connected to some real history. Except ... any connection to Elliot would be easy for DGB to follow. It would be actually SAFER for Magus if his ID would use something else. And if he NEVER used any name DGB knows, like Elliot, Ellen or ... Magus. Ooops. He just did used Magus. On phone call.

The idea that there are large amounts of money being held by banks and similar institutions for deceased depositors, with no way for potential heirs to claim those accounts, is a real concern that is so frequently overused in fiction that it makes legitimate claimants look like characters from made-for-TV movies. The plot point obviously wouldn't be that there is no way, but that the way is either something which allows DGB to catch him, or better, ELLEN.

Hmmmm ... that makes sense and could be interesting plot point ...

Remember Tedd's (short*) history of naming characters? *I say short because we only have the one example, but I suspect there were other instances. Yes, pokemon is not nearly only game with this absurdity. However, some games at least admit that allowing you to name others is meta and doesn't reflect any renaming actually being done in game's world. Also, I suspect Tedd's "short" history of naming characters is as long as his interest in video games. Like, sure, he probably stopped using this sort of names when meeting Grace, but he also probably barely has any time for playing now ... like, he's either playing something multiplayer WITH Grace or he's showing her something just so she can play it, he's unlikely to spend time playing singleplayer.

Also, allowing someone else to name almost-adult person is so absurd the rest of dialogue shouldn't need to make sense. You forget the possibility it's some sort of inside joke between those two. It might happened by him complaining that all his grandchildren are girls, then she decided to become pokemon trainer instead of say, pokemon coordinator and him commenting that despite her gender she's like the grandson he always wanted. In short, not every tomboy has gender or sexuality issues, despite what proponents of traditional gender roles try to suggest.

... there is no trading on Pokemon Go and no running up into someone while being in specific area in other games. Something doesn't add up.