Tom Sewell

I don't think Raven has time for a chat right now, what with five vampires to deal with. However, she might be meeting his mother soon.

They did. Fatigue in 4ed GURPS is based on HT, not ST. And Hit Points are now based on ST. This was already an optional rule in the first Compendium. However, the curves for buying attributes are gone; ST and HT are 10 points a level, DX and IQ 20 points a level. The standard player character now starts out at 150 Character Points, instead of 150. This also means that giant spellcasters like Mordag the giant vampire need lots more points to build. (ref: "Mordag's Little Finger" in Fantasy Adventures)

Nanase would be sending a fairy to the mall after Diane calls her, or after she hears about something happening at the mall. IMHO, probably not. Sirleck zapped Elliot at the end of Part 20, which happened just a few moments before the beginning of Part 22. Sirleck told Nanase to meet Ellen at the college "around six" and that's when I think Elliot got zapped, while Nanase would be as far away as Sirleck could manage to put her. If I'm right, about right now Nanase would be calling around. Ashley won't wake up for until she's way out in the boonies. Going back to the story Sirleck sold to Nanase, "Ellen" told Nanase she'd seen something on Charlotte's forum about an inhuman voyeur at the college. That's either a mistake on Sirleck's part, or a slip on Dan's part. That happened when they were still at school, probably no later than about 3:30. So Nanase isn't going to check Charlotte's forum before going to the college? Well, if not-Tengu can post on Charlotte's forum, Sirleck or maybe even Magus can post there too. So, we are to believe that neither Charlotte nor Nanase would have called each other about that yet?

I got something backwards earlier today. It's in the first panel that the shadowy figures on the lower level are running more or less towards Susan, and the last panel where the shadowy figures on Susan's level are running. Since we're at the mall, I'm taking the opportunity to assert that the Moperville Mall is probably inspired mostly by the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora Illinois, which is right next to Naperville, Illinois. It has a food court, an atrium design, and most specifically railings on the upper level walkways that look a lot like the railings in this comic.

Diane had to be told to withdraw from not-Tengu, and she had the presence of mind to stall the Spider Vampire. She is not going to leave as long as Susan is in danger. But unless she's under attack herself, she can call someone, either Nanase or Edward.

Yes, which means it would have been massive enough to alter the orbits of both the moon and the Earth, and even a small fraction of it falling to Earth would have done more damage than the Didnosaur Killer. Michael Bay don't do math or science.

Edward might do that if he was still in charge. Arthur J. Arthur wouldn't, since a few civilian casualties are acceptable in the service of the greater goal. Actually it did work, at least after Jeff Goldblum hacked the alien shield generators with an iBook. Maybe you were thinking about Mars Attacks or George Pal's War of the Worlds, two alien invasion movies where a nuke is used and doesn't do any good. And now for something completely different. Or at least not another comment on a comment. The title of Part 22 is Apocalypse, and while Dan has given Susan and Diane some revelations, there's not been much of a general audience yet. In this comic, we have shadowy figures in the first panel running away on Susan's level, and in the last panel, shadowy figures on the lower level running more or less toward Susan. And no one with a cell phone yet. To fit the title, we should have huge revelation here, either on a personal level for Susan and Diane and maybe Adrian Raven, or the big revelation of magic that's supposed to trigger The Change. I'm betting on the personal level at least for now. Not a large bet; one or maybe two cookies. One reason is that Apocalypse, at least up until now, is happening before the end of Part 21, The Other Dunkel. Sirleck was at the end of Dunkel that Adrian was already dead. And Sirleck's orders to destroy property to deliberately make a scene sound like they would bring on the incident that Arthur J. Arthur is hoping for. But there's no evidence that The Change has happened at the end of Part 21. So what's next? Ending Part 22 at this point seems like a cheat to me, but maybe not to Dan. Cutting away to another viewpoint maybe? Would be nice if we checked in on Nanase; she's got to have discovered the inhuman voyeur was a hoax by now, unless Sirleck actually set up something at the college. Even if she can't get to the Mall very soon, she probably could send her fairy unless Dan decides to impose a range limit. As someone else pointed out (not going to break my train of thought to look it up) Diane should have Edward's number in her phone. Phone shutdown like on New Year's Eve? Maybe, but that wouldn't mesh well with the order to cause publid destruction. Possibly Scarf Guy is smart enough to think about that, but could do it? Much of his magic would it take to do it? As for any mall cops, they've probably ducked into the nearest Starbucks by now.

Arguable. Possibly little Nase is the only fairy that explodes. But in his commentary Dan talks about Nase being an extra pair of eyes, so I kind of think that's what Dan has most in mind in this comic, at least. If we see little Nase using a fairy punch later, Susan's probably a full wizard now, able to learn other people's spells. Say, where's the Friday cliffhanger here? Perhaps it's in Susan's reactions in the last three panels. Does she notice something about Adrian Raven now she didn't quite see in their first encounter? Perhaps the natural way Adrian helped her up triggered some memory? Susan accepting that helping hand without question might provide some indication.

Susan is obviously good with hammers; much more practice. How long the sword will last in Adrian's hands is another question. Since the original idea was to arm Nanase, maybe one good hit. I kind of think Susan's hair is helping supercharge her sword now. I wouldn't be surprised if it stops glowing as soon as she hands it off, or if it vanishes immediately and Susan has to summon it again. There's another factor here. Remember from back in Hammerchlorians that Susan has a couple of swords. Also a bat and a crowbar. And, now, five dolls (Nase, Susan, Tedd, Updated Nanase, and Grace). That said, does anyone really think Jerry/Zeus is going to keep Diane from running toward Susan? Which brings to my mind something that Voltaire said: He told Ashley at the mall that she could walk right through him. Why would he do that? I don't doubt it was for his own perverse pleasure, but there might have been more behind it. If Immortals are supposed to only empower and guide humans, maybe physically restraining Ashley would have made Voltaire break the law and force him to reset. Jerry/Zeus may be under that restriction, or at least think he might be.

The Burmese Pythons multiplying in Florida swamps are getting big enough to eat alligators. So, get ready for Pythoon.

Since we now know that all human wizards have immortal ancestors, and since we know that immortals can grant magical powers to humans, it does seem pretty clear they can use magic.

Mike didn't get hit anywhere that much. However, I do accept Mike Tyson as the authority on ear biting.

That brings to mind, or at least to my mind, this question: Can Pandora show her Chaos form to anyone on the physical plane? Using Edward, Dan set down these basic rules about Immortals back in Hidden Genesis in the second flashback to the time when Magus first came to the Moperverse. We can't see or hear Immortals on the spirit plane. Immortals can see and here us from the spirit plane. Immortals have godlike powers on the spiritual plane. Immortals are weaker on the physical plane. Any one "of us" would have favored odds in a fight against an Immortal. "Us" would include at least Edward, Wolf, and Cranium. Perhaps even Lavender. Dan wrote out those rules ten years ago, but concerning Pandora he seems to have held to them. From what Dan has shown us, within the Moperverse, Pandora's Chaos form has only been seen by two other beings: Magus and Jerry/Zeus, and always on the spiritual plane, and only when Pandora wanted them to see. The only direct attack Pandora has made was the one on Magus when he refused to make Edward kill Abraham. That doesn't mean Pandora or any other Immortal can't attack a mortal on the material plane; there would be no need for those "only guide and empower" rules if they couldn't do anything else. Vampires apparently fall under the same protections, which is why I've been saying that what Voltaire may be playing for is to provoke Pandora into attacking a vampire directly--say, a vampire attacking her son. Happily, those rules don't prohibit Pandora from tearing Voltaire to shreds, and her Chaos form would be just dandy for that.

So do you think any of the vampires caught Pandora popping in? I'm assuming Scarf Guy was close enough to keep an eye on the real target, so just maybe the sight of an Immortal with the half-immortal might have suggested a new strategy, such as running away without telling any of the other vampires, since occupying the hunters with killing the others could be helpful in facilitating his safe withdrawal.

I'm hoping for a fairy Catalina.

The first is plausible since he got hammered in the face and is holding his cheek (and isn't that the wimpiest behavior you've ever seen in a vampire?). But put it together with his first-panel thought about the the actual target approaching...? Or perhaps the Aberrations have started referring to Diane as "Face", as in "I hope one of the others gets you and the Face." What? It could be a nickname. Doubtful because Diane has exactly the same face as Susan, so Diane could hardly be the Face. One problem with Dan writing most dialog in all-caps is unless he repeats a word in his commentary we don't know if it's supposed to be capitalized, as nicknames should be.

The first is plausible since he got hammered in the face and is holding his cheek (and isn't that the wimpiest behavior you've ever seen in a vampire?). But put it together with his first-panel thought about the the actual target approaching...?

I think Thor was supposed to use special gloves called Greipner, because the hammer is white-hot when it returns--after all, it's basically a bolt of lightning.

Let's not forget that there were three vampires headed for the food court. Like Sirleck actually expected all of them to survive. In fact, if none of them survive, none of them can tell who hired them. And it kind of sounds like Sirleck hasn't paid any of them yet. He told Big Mouth he had magic. Apparently he thinks he has enough. Of course, he might not know he's taking on an elf wizard with at least three centuries of experience, trained by an Immortal mother for who knows how long.

Good point. Maybe Dan is building up suspense before the Big Reveal. Here's a scenario: Carol Brown is actually on the scene with a video feed, arguing with her station manager to put the story on, while he (or maybe she) tells her it's just another stunt like the fake griffin last Saturday--I mean, a flying furry snake and a big talking Koala Bear in a funny little hat?! Magus has been observing life in Moperville for over two years now, so I'm pretty sure he knows what people are doing with smartphones and even cars, even it he doesn't know how they work. After all, how many people in our world don't know how cars or phones work? Maybe the Fairy Doll lobbyists have gotten restrictive laws, heavy taxes, and licensing fees on telephones in the Magusverse. You know, like Ma Bell in the old days. Another good point. Spidey would have made a big pile of ash that could have taken longer to finish burning. Fortunately it seems to be white ash, so the DGB could maybe just pretend it was snow. Hey, it's January just a bit outside Chicago.

Or Dan couldn't resist making the "lions and tigers and bears" joke, (oh my!). Much as I would like to see Barney the creepy purple dinosaur next on the hit list, however, you've got a point. These aberrations do clash with the ones we've seen before. There was nothing cuddly about the Paris vampire; Sirleck was and is creepy as hell; the Spider Vampire was menace o'plenty; and while Big Mouth isn't the sharpest pencil in the box, cuddly he ain't. Scarf Face is kind of on the edge; nothing particularly menacing about his looks so far, but as I've said before, he's smarter. And the "spontaneous combustion" feature is something Dan hasn't really hinted about before; he went to great trouble to have Dame Tara dispose of the remains of the Spider Vampire in mid-air--after she'd sliced it in at least three parts with her Guillotine attack (hey, another reference to France; I guess there's a France on the other side of the world, as if their vampires weren't enough of a problem.) This could be a game-changer. If all the aberrations from now on conveniently turn into ash, clean-up should be easier in more ways than one. No inconvenient monster bodies or parts of bodies to explain away. And no one has brought out a smart phone since the stampede of distracted teens! Not even any of the three people we know who saw Pandora floating in the air! What's happening here? Has Big Mouth eaten all the distracted smartphone addicts in the mall by now? Or Wiley's bears from Non-Sequitur? And speaking of phones, what about Ashley's phone? Did Magus and/or Sirleck take it away? Did Ashley accidentally leave it at home? Did Ashley "accidentally" leave it at home?

Yet another plot theory: Maybe the Scarf Vampire (or maybe it's a turtleneck?) will survive long enough to track down Sirleck and demand payback for sending him into a place crawling with vampire hunters. Scarf Guy seems smart enough to make a strategic withdrawal.

I was meaning a certain purple dinosaur. We sold them at Fry's Electronics for the 1997 Christmas season. Anything for Diane if she makes puppy dog eyes.

Also a plausible theory. Dan really hasn't developed Lucy very much, has he? An interesting possibility is no-magic Lucy weighing in to protect Diane--and then having Rhoda save Lucy. And there are a trio of people I hadn't thought of before: Charlotte, Rhea, and Rick. Charlotte's already taken on a vampire to protect Diane, so if she can do anything, she will. Since there really isn't anything going on at the college with an inhuman-looking peeping Tom, one or all of them could be at the Mall, maybe even at the food court. Diane didn't tell Rhea anything about Susan,

Well, maybe, but Lucy has never shown anything like admiration or sympathy for for any boy, and I kind of got the vibe that Lucy was really disappointed to hear Diane tell her she wanted a "real relationship".But your theory about Lucy crushing on Rhoda brings up the intriguing possibility of a real catfight...MRROOOOOWWWW!!!!!