Tom Sewell

I've been thinking a lot about Susan and Diane's relationships, and I think many of you have too, of late. But I decided to start a more generic topic which might become a home for anyone to talk about 'ships in EGS. Anyway, I've already begun shipping Diane and Lucy in the story topics, and then it struck me that there's a resemblance between Diane's now-established relationship with Lucy, and Susan's with Sarah. The only non-family member we now know that Diane might have known before Lucy is Rick, Both Susan and Sarah are uncertain about their sexual orientation. And I thought, why not? Best friends as lovers. Now, this is from someone who has written three unpublished fanfics where Susan actually knocks boots with Matt Cohen and one where Lucy married a guy and had a bunch of kids with him. Frankly, gay sex doesn't turn me on. But romance is another matter. I'm hoping the relationship between Justin and Luke doesn't just disappear, although the way things are going I'm not sure I'll live long enough to find out. And absolutely the best kiss in EGS came at the end of Grace's birthday party.

So, will Diane start an LBGT club at Moperville South? I think she could get as many as five members right away...

An even better double date would be with Nanase and Ellen. Maybe Dan will really go with the big kiss, but Diane seems to be as unsure of her sexuality as Susan now. Maybe Diane will say something like "Okay, lets see if it works out for us."

Okay. Diane, what do you do now? Maybe Diane will handle it a little better than Susan did here.

I'd say the most important potential witness would be Adrian Raven. I think this was the last and only time we saw them interacting before the Mall Friday night. It strikes me that this would affect him more than actually seeing his daughter use magic or knock out some jerk's teeth.

That time was just ten days ago in story time. Susan and Susan's mother have exhibited similar powers.

Good Tom is too busy saving puppies to unmake any virgins. Fortunately for myself, I am not Good Tom.

I kind of thought having the silhouettes behind Diane being something more than anonymous was more interesting (and original) than an umpteenth debate about hair, But it's a free forum, and while we're on the subject of hair, doesn't Diane's hair remind any of you guys of Tiffany's helmet hair in Luann? Or, minus the free-floating topnot, Sam Manson's hair in Danny Phantom?

It's not canon whether Nanase ever got back the hair spell she lost last spring saving Ellen from Abraham. A change in hairstyle by whatever means would seem prudent after all that flying around asking people about Ellen.

From Panel 3, we know for sure that Lucy and Rhoda are right there listening to every word Diane is saying. But go back to Panel 2. Look in the lower right corner corner of that panel, There are three people silhouetted. They are obviously beyond Diane's field of vision. They appear to be: A tall boy with a shallow center part in his hair. A quite short person of indeterminate sex with hair in what looks like a bowl cut. A girl with bangs (maybe) and long hair. I think they might be: Justin Boy with bowl cut in the last panel of last Wednesday's comic. I really wanted to see Nanase, but the hair's wrong. Unless, of course,, Nanase got a haircut too. Grace or maybe Ellen (especially if #2 turns out to be Nanase after all) Just Lucy and Rhoda have plenty of potential to cause a memorable experience for anyone making a stupid move, but there may be two or three more heavy hitters Dan has in his starting lineup..

All the great time travel stories are loops. Try Isaac Asimov's The Last Question, if you can find it. About 4,000 words.

Actually I did read Jurassic Park before the movie came out. In other words, a long time ago. I don't remember the little elephant. I do remember that the guy who had the park built and got dinosaurs brought back was killed by a flock of Procompsognathus.

There's quite a reasonable fan theory that Kim Possible has to have superpowers without her gadgets to do all those spectacular acrobatic/athletic/martial arts things--and stay alive despite taking numerous hits. Maybe that provided extra inspiration for my latest amazing crackpot plot theory: Diane is actually awakening right now. While being marked by an Immortal was certainly a helpful step, remember that Nanase wasn't marked and it's not really clear whether Helena and Demetrius actually Awakened her or simply gave her her spellbook (if they did--not in canon who did, yet) And also remember that magic has changed, minimally as far as the Will of Magic perceives it, but maybe not-so-minimally from beings who are not the Will of Magic. Could Diane have had magic all along? I think Dan wouldn't have much trouble justifying that if he makes it so. Nanase and Justin might have noticed something, but most likely if they actually watched her cheerleading. Nanase has never been shown in any athletic competition and I don't think Diane was officially a cheerleader until she told Susan at the mall. I also don't think Adrian has ever seen Diane cheerleading; he doesn't strike me as a sports fan. Dan doesn't strike me as a sports fan, either. Anyway, spectacular acrobatics at the various games would help explain why Diane is in the cheer squad despite her bad reputations. I don't know what Diane is going to do and I've decided not to share any guesses. But I do think Justin will still be around, and we're going to hear from him next week.

"I'd like to see Kim Possible try this one on for size!"

I agree; my son is considering gender reassignment surgery. But Sam was (obviously) born with at least externally female anatomy--and while there are rare cases of genetic males who are born with female anatomy, it's far more likely that Sam is a genetic female who's mentally male. Unfortunately, even Tedd can't offer a permanent solution to that problem as yet, although it's quite possible Magus/Ellen knows how. Realistically, Sam would be able to get surgery if he could afford it That's a fairly big "if", but it would be a permanent solution. Dan hasn't really made clear what Diane's sexual orientation is, but I'm pretty sure she identifies as female herself, as does Susan, despite Susan's insightful experience at Grace's last birthday party. But I'm guessing she's like Ashley knows she is and Sarah hasn't quite admitted she is: attracted to both sexes, and capable of a lasting intimate relationship someone of either sex. If any of you guys really want to explore gender and other issues with the bark on, try With Fetus, which actually came back to life a few days ago. The art's not-so-hot, but the writing is razor-sharp.

Let me remind you that Arthur J. Arthur is running things now and he's already brought Tedd aboard. Diane isn't just in on The Secret; she's part of it. You really think Diane won't have powers by the end of this arc? Becoming a boy temporarily could help Lucy understand how far Diane will go for her. And let me remind you the MA5 NP arc is canon. And also remember, Susan did it. I can see Diane trying to make herself more like Susan in general. I think you're exactly right about this. Uh, it's Grace's party. Grace is kind of hard to stop when she gets going. And it was Grace who set the gender-switch theme for the last party, basically to help Tedd. Grace notices things other people don't; she knew Sam was really female, and she noticed right away how similar Diane and Susan were. Plus Grace goes to Diane's school, and Grace has a special relationship with Adrian. Something else Grace will do or at least try to do is bring them together once she knows their true relationship.

Diane has decided to do something, and while it would have been nice if she'd noticed Justin was so close to her, he can wait. There's Lucy, target in sight. Maybe Diane will ask Lucy if she'll go on another double date with her--and Rhoda and her girlfriend. Or maybe we could even end the week with that kiss I spoke of earlier. I have my hopes. Or maybe some jerk like Gerald will show up and be jerky and Diane and Lucy will beat the crap out of him. That could be a re-bonding experience, also. Or Mr. Raven may show up at exactly the right or exactly the wrong moment. Whatever does happen in Friday's comic--assuming the next one is on Friday--TLoD shouldn't end there. Dan uses three digits after the TLoD in each of the filenames. The action will probably move away from Diane at times, but I think Diane may do something more legendary-y than get the girl or merge her little group with the Main Eight by the time of the last TLoD comic. Maybe we'll even go to Grace's nineteenth birthday party. Remember when Lucy murmured "I wish you were a boy" but Lucy didn't quite pick it up?

No. The ban on time travel is supported by meta reasons (specifically, Dan being afraid Tedd would acquire mean to time travel and will use it to undo any problems) and therefore unlikely to ever be lifted. That was a sarcastic joke, my friend. I guess I need to borrow Grace's JOKE sign. My point was for Diane to actually be late for another class she would have to have missed the class before that class. The absence of a bell between the two that Dan actually put in the arc (so far) can't mean that there was only a short period between those bells for both Lucy's and Diane's statements to be true. Maybe Dan just forgot to put the thrid bell in; maybe he decided it would interrupt the flow of the story and no one would notice; maybe he thought we would all decide he just left out the third bell because it really wasn't important; maybe Dan actually meant to imply that by Diane was so absorbed in reflection she not only didn't notice how much time had passed but the third bell, which would been as loud as the one she just heard. The basic problem for Diane since TLoD's first comic set in the story's present, Monday morning at MSHS is that Diane managed not to be conscious of the horrible reputation she'd had for years,. Spacing out for a mere hour isn't much compared to that; much smaller elephant!

When the bell rang earlier, Lucy left Diane saying "We're late for class." NOT "We're GOING TO BE late for class". What Dan put in Lucy's mouth wasn't quite appropriate for the "Six Minutes To Get Your Ass To Class" bell that we all should know begins each school day at MSHS, not a nuclear attack (Actually in October 1962 we did have a bell at my school for that for some reason--five shorts.). I've been assuming that the first real-time part of this arc is set when Diane has just arrived at school, which seems logical, since neither Rhoda nor Lucy seem to have seen Diane with her new haircut and outfit. But it is possible this scene could have taken place between classes. But if Rhoda meant exactly what she said and was right about that, that bell would have been the start of the next class period. And when would the next bell after that ring it was? At the end of that class period. But Diane says to herself in the last panel of today's comic that she's late for ANOTHER class. Either she can't count or someone forgot to ring a bell, possibly Dan. But wait! Could it be that the change in magic has also removed the ban on Time Travel? Could this anomaly be the result of Diane travelling back in time like Marty McFly did in Back to The Future 2 where he's in the some scenes with his earlier from Back to the Future 1? Will Susan's Vulcan-eared shoulder-fairy Logic appear to advise Diane? Possibly that is a crackpot theory too amazing even for me to buy into it.

The reflection said she was Diane's inner child in her first comic. I'm wondering how Diane could stand in the same place for an hour without someone asking what she was doing. Maybe like The Shadow she now has the power to cloud men's minds, meaning people don't register seeing her? Or maybe Dan didn't consider that when he decided to make the last panel.

What is your source on this? I mean, I know the phenomenon really exists, but what makes you sure it applies to Sam? In other words, did Dan actually say so? Justin isn't attracted to women; this is the reason he broke Melissa's heart. My point was that Susan might become male (again) for Justin's sake.

It's not true that Susan has never gotten physical. Now it's true this is from Grace's birthday party when Susan and Justin were TG'd, but this was spontaneous for both of them. And it's not true she's never expressed interest in a romantic relationship. Take another look at this interaction between Susan and (again) Justin after Bad Tom tried to mess with her head and Susan has learned that Elliot has hooked up with Ashley. It seems to be famous for its' "I like to look" revelation in the last panel. But look at the fourth panel. Susan tells Justin that the situation that the new relationship with Ashley has made Elliot more like Justin to herself. Could we have a Freudian slip here? That is, could it be that Susan is actually in love with Justin but has written him off because he's gay? Remember that at that time, Justin hadn't become involved with Luke or any other man. Could you see Susan turning male for Justin some day? After all, technically, she's already done that once... Meanwhile "poor" little Sarah at the current point in the story has three potential romances going: Cecil, Larry, and Sam. For those of you who are into Danny Phantom (as I am becoming of late) but who haven't read the whole series or who have but forgotten about the EGS Sam, he/she is the girl who wants to be a boy Sarah met at the trading card tournament in Squirrel Prophet ten days ago in story time and made a date with which she should have gone on the same Friday when Susan finally met Diane.

Quite possibly. If you are referring to appearance, it's true the current Diane looks more like the early Sarah because of her shorter hair. And they both have have boyfriend/girlfriend issues--but not the same issues. Here's one one example: Diane has never expressed regret at still being a virgin; that was a big reason Sarah "just friended" Elliot, maybe the biggest reason. Diane, on the other hand, has never been shown even kissing anyone, even in her imagination, and I think the only person she's ever embraced in canon is Rhoda--and only in ways appropriate for a puppy or a child. The only time she's really been shown in a sexy pose in canon is imaginary, and it's unclear whose imagination it's in. And in that pose, Dan drew her silhouette without absolutely no curves suggesting she had breasts.

THAT RETROACTIVE "OUCH" Dan put this link to that "OUCH" in his comments for this comic. That ouch came in at least two parts: Diane described a double-date with Lucy as "meaningless"; and when Charlotte sort of indirectly asked about Lucy, Diane refused to tell Charlotte any more in a very bitchy way. Why would Diane do those things? First, Lucy isn't meaningless to Diane. Dan may not have worked out how important Lucy was to Diane when he wrote that comic, but Lucy was definitely Diane's friend, an older friend than Rhoda. So it is reasonable that Diane didn't want to talk about Lucy to Charlotte just yet. But is she being bitchy to Charlotte because she doesn't like that? I don't think Dan really meant to imply that because later in that arc when Diane really hurts Charlotte's feelings Diane has most of comic arguing between her caring and bitchy selves right after about it. Of course, Diane very soon had very different feelings about Charlotte. Maybe this is a clue that Charlotte will be in TLoD?

So far, the legend of Diane for MNHS is that she's a conniving slut. I don't think it really fits the title Dan gave this arc as yet. But exactly how could she change that reputation? She hasn't even been interviewed by Carol Brown yet. And beyond Moperville North, which she should be leaving in about four months, Diane is as anonymous as Jane Doe beyond maybe one or two dozen people. Maybe there's more than one elephant here. An extremely wild card is who and what Diane's mother is, or was. A mortal? Another Elf? Perhaps even an unknown Immortal? Even if Diane's mother was a human with normal magic potential, she's the only character we know for sure has a half-Immortal parent. I have no clue about where Dan is going to do in his next comic, but I don't think we'll be finishing TLoD (the abbreviation Dan is using in each filename) with this comic.