hkmaly

I can testify that the passage of a mere four decades has enacted certain changes in my personality, too. ... it's not exactly exceptional, true.

I'm not sure the latter is necessarily worse. I can think of at least one case of a guy who won an election and used that to take control of a country that built one of the finest armies in the world... It wasn't meant as exclusive or ... although army controlled by being enchanted is probably worse than army controlled by normal means like by orders.

Ok. So Ashley is NOT awakened yet. And Dan realized that he needs some excuse for DGB to not confiscate Kevin and lock him back in PTTAOLUTASF. I was thinking about how Kevin might manage to avoid them ... but Dan's idea is much funnier. I guess Arthur's personality changed a lot since creating Kevin ... Also, IF Kevin would be hiding, Ashley would just make it harder for him by asking ... she is really too naive to be evil. (Also, yes ... the list of people who might created Kevin AND WE KNOW THEM is pretty short.)

Edward would have known that the boar was enchanted because Adrian had called him asking for help in disenchanting it, but he didn't believe it was his business to deal with it. Edward and Adrian believed what Rhoda said and therefore that the boar is enchanted. Arthur didn't. Edward himself is not trained in hunting and it really WASN'T his business ; It WOULD be business of Arthur, but Arthur decided he will leave it on hunters. Well ... Pandora wrote it in the note and when Rhoda read it Catalina found out. But after Pandora and Catalina, I agree that Sarah was the next one who found out.

Maybe, but being able to resist the wand, and possibly all magic, might be what Arthur would like, because then any potential criminals and law enforcment would still be relying on convential methods since using magic would most often end in a stalemate. I don't think so ... Arthur would certainly prefer if DGB would still be able to use magic. More importantly, their priority is to find easy way to raise enchantment resistance of almost ALL people, WITHOUT awakening them. I think that resisting the wand will be impossible for most people even after awakening. The danger is not about criminals using magic - that will happen anyway, even magic which is not cast on other people is very useful. I think the danger is about someone enchanting large amount of people for long time or even indefinitely. Sure, Edward was talking about wands with homing fireballs, but those are not really bigger danger than someone using assault gun (as Pandora mentioned). But can you imagine someone like not-Tengu using his power to win elections? Or worse, build an army?

If they knew Rhoda was marked and responsible for the boar getting bigger, why didn't they approach her and explain what happened? Or even deal with the boar themselves? I know Arthur at the time wouldn't have sent agents to deal with a public incident, but Adrian and Grace were able to deal with the boar without drawing attention to themselves, Paranormal Division agents should have been just as capable if not more capable at dealing with it and covering it up. (they could have either killed the boar or captured it, and probably used magic to fix up most of the damage before the hunters arrived) I think that Rhoda is keeping her magic secret even from Grace. Meanwhile, Grace is keeping secret from Rhoda that she's part space alien. Also check the timeline: the boar incident was immediately after Rhoda was marked. SHE was not yet aware she was marked when Adrian shot the boar.

Just that Tedd could probably use the wand as a goal of sorts, like finding out the threshold being able to resist the wand, it may be a decently high threshold, he may want to try to get it so people are able to resist the wand and thus most magic? It will be more practical to train people to resist FV5 ... or blonde beam if you don't want the additional fun. The analysing wand is probably TOO HARD to resist.

How is the fact the wand could be resisted relevant? Now, when Tedd is aware that he HAS such insight, he will be more likely to focus it. Also, as you noted, ... he will need it as part of his research and no way is he using it when it's so scary. Why just a bigger display, he could make it an addon to his Gauntlet so he could wave his hand in front of a person all Jedi-like and the information can be transmitted to a new feature of his glasses. Gauntlet is supposed to be secret. But good idea ... he can make it in form of a glove (not the same glove he uses for enchanting watches) connected to glasses. (The Jedi wave is still unlikely to be the correct motion to activate the scan. More likely, it will be the "talk to the hand" gesture.)

Especially since Pandora was going out of her way to create cases like Kitty's.... But he doesn't KNOW that yet. He presumably doesn't even know about RHODA yet. Magic didn't told him all details ... like the fact that Pandora marked around hundred people just in Moperville. I mean, we don't saw it either, but seriously, she was trying so hard, it's unlikely we saw everyone she marked.

I was in the process of typing out my previous post when you posted that and hadn't read that post yet, sorry. Oh. I didn't noticed how close they are to each other. Well yeah, but will they automatically assume that her awakening was improper and that energy buildups are inevitable and preemptively ask her to use magic as a precaution? Or will they not know until it actually happens? I guess they could probably test for it as well but what if the test only registers after an incident with an energy buildup, not before it? Arthur: "Ashley, there is a possibility that your awakening improper and you will need to using your magic often to get over magic buildups. We don't know for sure yet -" Ashley: "Gotta use magic a lot, get it" ... I don't think her goodness is SO big she would wait for confirmation. That said, I would assume they CAN test for it in advance. Maybe not THIS quickly after awakening, but Edward has that wand still home doesn't he? He can re-test her every week. Also, possibly get Tedd to make non-scary version of the analysing wand. I mean, he would probably do it on his own after hearing the wand second time ... AND it will have bigger display.

Someone should tell Arthur that he has deadline. Although I suppose he would operate knowing the risk someone like Kitty appears already.

Link? Or is that not public? Actually, it was already implied at reddit ... but if the wording is better it would still be useful. EDIT: I see ... so the same wording. And note that she may NOT awakened yet due to not being summer yet.

But we know that Sirleck was so short sighted in his plan to possess Magus, he assumed that Magus was an idiot who didn't realize he had offered himself up as the next host but instead Sirleck was an idiot for not realizing that Magus did that intentionally. But what? This only confirms that Sirleck likely wasn't able to hide the money from Magus. We're talking about when the diamond shards vaporized, which they started doing just as Elliot pushed Magus out the window. Arthur only mentions Ellen and Ashley having absorbed some of the energy, but not Elliot, I would expect that to know that Ashley had absorbed some, they probably had a way of testing for it, which they probably did on Ellen and Elliot. We were SHOWN the shards vaporising after Elliot pushed Magus out. But yes, it would be weird for Arthur to not mention Elliot ... technically he might absorbed too little to show on the test, but I guess in that case it doesn't matter Just speculation, but considering the Diamond triggered Elliot's and Ellen's awakening, maybe Ashley absorbing the power from it's shards triggered an awakening as well? If so, what would her energy buildups be like and will her and Elliot take advantage of them? ... I'm pretty sure I mentioned both of those speculations already Note that energy buildups are only problem when you are NOT using magic. She will likely be TOLD to use magic with/on Elliot. It's as if Fate conspired to force her to live out her fantasies ...

Even before it was considered possible for someone being awakened by external power. Elliot (and Ellen) both trained ASMA before they awakened, but still, they got imperfect awakening triggered by the diamond. It's possible that the destruction of diamond generated so much energy Ashley was awakened just from that without any training beforehand, AND on top of it she was made wizard despite not having talent for it (and matching power). (Speaking about it, will Ashley get energy buildups?) Sarah's initial energy reservoir is not THAT low. She's D-rank talent with S-class spell ... but there are certainly other D-rank talents, it's just the combination which is so rare. Ashley might be also D-rank (unlike any other wizard, who would be at least C-rank), or she may have even LESS talent. However ... Sarah needed to actually work hard on growing her energy reservoir. Ashley might not because the diamond got her over that phase. This is another possibility ... also note that her being awakened (presumably) by artefact from before last reset can be the reason why she's different kind of wizard. Yes. It's quite likely that Uryuoms showing as magically active will not be false positive now, and that hybrids like Grace wouldn't need to supress their uryuom power to learn magic now. Also, it's possible she will immediately be able to use the watches.

He didn't give it to me. I stole it from him, then left him in an overly complicated death trap with at least two dozen failure points, cackled madly at him and told him nothing could stop me now, then departed without making sure that the trap would actually kill him. I know how to properly villain, thank you. And before you ask, yes, I did twirl my moustache. Repeatedly. I grew one especially for the occasion. Usually, when someone stoles something he didn't earned it, but in your case I must agree you earned it.

You take that back! I worked hard to earn my Villain card! Are you sure the person who gave it to you wasn't just taking advantage of you?

Considering the amount of time Magus spent with Sirleck, and the fact that Magus was able to bait Sirleck into thinking he could possess Magus after getting a body again, I would not be surprised of Magus was able to get other information out of Sirleck like where money was kept and how to get it, with Sirleck believing there was no harm in telling since it would all be moot once he had possessed Magus. Maybe Sirleck had already set things up for "Magus" to collect prior to leaving the old man's body, so it'd be just a matter of Magus picking up some documents or something that Sirleck stashed somewhere. Note that this is not normal situation. Sirleck DELIBERATELY hidden the money in way someone else than him can get them. Even if that someone wasn't supposed to be Magus - and he probably WAS - it would be easier to get them than normally. AND, Sirleck would need to work hard at hiding his money from Magus, as Magus could easily keep tracking him. To add to this, Ellen might know some detail we don't which makes her assumption more supported than it sounds. Ok I was wrong about Ellen not absorbing anymore of the diamond's energy, but I don't think any of us would have called Ashley absorbing some as well. And I would guess that if Elliot and Magus hadn't decided to take their chat outside, they'd likely have absorbed some too... I wonder if that would have made Magus trackable? They probably STILL absorbed some, especially considering Magus was directly TOUCHING the diamond. Maybe not as much as Ellen due to not spending as much time around the diamond, yes. She MAY already awakened as well, but it's true we don't have it confirmed yet. I don't think wizards learning other people's spells prevents them from gaining their own spells normally. It's not like they have limited slots they can fill with spells. They just have an additional way to learn new spells. It's not fixed number of slots like in RPG, but I still think focusing on learning other people's spells will slow down the rate they get their own spells. Especially if the spells their learn will fit them. Wizards own spells will likely be something they want but were unable to learn from others. Of course, Ashley is the one whose yearning for transformations is blocked by her goodness, who can get minor healing spell otherwise. She may surprise us. Maybe her experience with Elliot unblocked her transformation side. Or maybe she will learn transformations from Elliot and/or Ellen and get own spells which would be the healing ones. Or maybe she will get the combo of feeling what would the target want to transform to and the ability to transform them that way ... that IS something like sharing feelings isn't it? ... and, of course, that's ignoring Kevin, who may have his own way how to teach her.

I think it's to convey Carol's lips moving as she talks though. Take a video that show's someone talking and pause it mid sentence, there's a chance you'll get a freeze frame of their mouth open similarly. I know what it's supposed to convey. I still don't think people's lips get this asymmetrical when talking. I hope someone catches and stops Kitty. Like, sure, this is out of continuity so she technically CAN transform people left and right, but it still feels like she overdid it.

So, what they called Carol from this time? I mean, she didn't even had time to put on lipstick properly ... And she had bad luck of not finding anyone who would point out people transform around Kitty. Well, maybe the "mom I'm in TV" catgirl will tell her now. Did she get both shrink-with-clothes and shrink-without-clothes variants of the spell without noticing? ... is the cameraman now catgirl too?

... I see Dan is experimenting ... Is there any difference between those two for HER? Note that they didn't wasted any time and TESTED her immediately. Maybe they will test Justin next ... Probably worse than Sirleck, because he has morality. Also, that "incredible vast wealth" probably 1) wasn't THAT great to start with 2) got smaller after Sirleck paid to the vampires - oh wait. He didn't did he? He promised he pay them but no vampire survived, and he wasn't giving any advances ... Me too. Although if she would be, Pandora would probably notice. And Arthur still pointed it as option, but DAN hinted instead that it was PURPOSE of the diamond - or rather the wooden core inside. So, what do we know to turn people into wizards? If she wasn't any sort of magic user before, she's probably a long way from getting spells of her own. What she needs is to see at least one low-power spell a few times to use her wizards ability to learn other people's spells. Once she knows one, she can start practicing it. Ellen's "blonder" beam (http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/2017-07-23-ellen-demo-15) should be a low-power transformation that Ashley would like. Let's see ... she is dating Elliot, who can transform to any female, and already saw Ellen's FV5 beam ... I don't think she will have shortage of transformation-related spells. But she's WIZARD. That means she can learn any spell she wants. And considering her low power and the amount of spell people around her can show her, it's possible she won't get any OWN spells at all - like, that she will "fill all slots" with learned spells. BTW, Ellen getting additional boost confirmed. And Arthur wasn't able to see anything on the footage but still suspect something happened. Oh. And we lost second "mundane" character, after Sarah. (Or would it be third? Does Diane count?) I approve. Poor Charlotte. She should be next one.

Not in bad fiction, actually. Only in good fiction or real life. That depends on if "because it's fun" counts as a reason that "justifies" doing bad things. Plenty of villains from fun and not-horribly-written (though admittedly not very deep) stories seem to have no reason for their actions beside psychopathic sadism. The situation is actually more complicated, because even good fiction might have totally one-dimensional villain, especially if it's not the main villain, and be good for other reason, while even bad fiction might have villain with very complicated and realistic motivation and be failure for example because the main hero is failure. Your example of not-deep-but-fun story is not only case. But what I wanted to say is that there is no limit on how unrealistic and simplified can person be portrayed in fiction, especially bad one. (Also, unfortunately we need to count psychopathic sadism as reason as there are people like that even in real life ; just not as often AND it's unlikely person like that - who's only motivation is psychopathic sadism - will get anywhere far. We can even say that such reason mitigates doing bad things in the "it's not his fault, he's just ill" sense, although the border between what is part of personality and what is mental disorder is blurry. Nevertheless, at least some mental disorders CAN be reason to NOT put someone in jail.)

"Expect" isn't exact either. I was actually using "almost sure" to mean something like 90-99% sure, and "expect" for anything above roughly 70%. That's definitely not what I expected from "expect". Ok. My numbers are: * Lord Tedd would be redeemed - 90-99% * Voltaire and General Shade Tail would get reasons for what they do - 85-95% * Those reasons would actually get our sympathy at least partially - 60-85% (It's funny to put your estimates into numbers as if there would be some scientific calculations behind them ) You mean there are no people who would be villains because they decided to be villains. Not in bad fiction, actually. Only in good fiction or real life. Yes. Surprisingly, sometimes even sympathetic. At least in fiction.

I see it the other way - I'm sure Lord Tedd himself will be redeemed, while Voltaire or General Shade Tail might not be although we will definitely get some reasons to be more sympathetic to them. I'm a little confused, how is that different from what I said? The way you said it sound like you consider the probability Voltaire and General Shade Tail would get sympathetic reasons higher than the probability Lord Tedd would be redeemed. I see it other way, meaning I consider probability Lord Tedd would be redeemed higher. (Although looking at it again, I think I got little lost in it, and it's not like "almost sure" is exact quantifier, so I'm not surprised you got confused.)

Actually, that was my point - that (assuming there was no "wish acts exactly as you expect it to" clause) that would not be a wish with no potential downsides. I was sorta implying either such cause is in effect or that the genie is in so good mood he will let it slide. ... of course, thinking about it, IF the Genie can add tragic backstory, it means he can change past and can do it again. So, on second wish, Mary Sue can fix that. Now, she's Mary Sue, so she certainly KNOWS how, and the Genie would be total jerk if he would do something unexpected on her second wish anyway because only total jerks don't love Mary Sue.

http://www.egscomics.com/comic/2018-05-25 ... wait ... when did comix url started including date again? Anyway: I would really like to see Nanase reaction. Was looking forward to it whole time, despite not knowing how cool would that be. Apparently, Dan decided it would be better to skip it. The timeline was apparently very tight: There couldn't be THAT much time between the date of date with Nanase before the lightshow appeared, AND Nanase was able to confirm Elliot and Ashley were missing before Tedd returned from the dream conference ... Hmmm ... how far did Nanase and Grace get? How many people saw them? How many CARED after the lightshow? How long would take them to find Ellen in the warehouse? Apparently, even with Edward help, they were not able to use the phones to locate them. I suppose they were not just off but also left home ... or with batteries disconnected, if not both. Hmmm ... Mr. Verres left work early to check on Tedd ... was it because Grace was concerned? Or was it because Arthur told him about the conference and Edward decided it's more important to check his son than to protect national security? ... actually, not only it's understandable AND Edward was shown as overprotective before, protecting Tedd COULD be easily manner of national security now.