Matoyak

I really wish we'll get to see Susan and Diane meet before another date storyline. Sure, this date has been much more interesting than I expected, but I honestly have no high hopes for Sarah/Sam OR Justin/Luke. They might join the group eventually, but I'm in no hurry for that. This particular plot thread is much older and much more important.

This is one of my strong personal dislikes: when alcohol is somehow made out to be something funny or positive without bad effects. I am not commenting on Dan here -- he is merely portraying an element of the game -- but it is a trope that never fails to irritate me.

If it's one of the parody "Make fun of the show" shows like YU-Gi-Oh Abridged or DBZ Abridged, that's not really a replacement for the show, and doesn't fill the gap if someone was hoping for something to be good, but ended up disappointed. And (not saying this is what you're doing in this case, but I've seen it a fair bit on other forums) sometimes suggesting watching them as a replacement can come across as a way to brush aside the criticism of the show, in a "If you don't like it, go watch the thing that makes fun of it. Obviously you're THAT type and thus I can ignore your criticism" dismissive kind of way.
(As an aside, I also really dislike those kind of parodies in general. I just don't find them funny at all).

meh.
SAO always felt like a pretty, but shallow, rehash of other anime series. It starts off looking like it's going to be all complex and deep and get inside your head at first... only to follow through with a generic damsel in distress subplot, questionable characterization choices making several characters feel like the kind of people who never would have bought an MMO in the first place, a main plot that feels rushed, and constant dissonance between the running subplots and the THREAT OF IMPENDING DEATH.
That said, i may be a bit... biased.
Kinda a big fan of .Hack//, so somewhat predisposed to hate something that feels like a mockery... 

Friends and countrymen (and $5 Patreon supporters), it has come to my attention that non canon Susan is edging past werewolf Nanase in the transformation polls. Should she win, it would be a sad day for Moperville. The new magic set, which is set in the gothic horror wored of Innistrad, is being released next week and, as such, this is the perfect time for the werewolves to show their mettle and demonstrate how they will protect the forest and us all.
There is still time to right this grave injustice. If you haven't voted yet, please do so and, in doing, show your support for the forest. Show your support for freedom. Show your support for Nanase.
This message has been paid for by friends of Nanase 2016.

To be fair to her, though, we don't know when that flashback takes place, right? Andrea's been here for months, and the actual flashback could be years ago. Especially if this half of the world is a particular interest area for Andrea. If Tara is used to Andrea giving out random facts about this world, then it's easy to let it gloss over. Think about any time your S.O. has talked to you about a specific detail of their work or school major. These are topics that come up enough to make you think you've heard it all and don't really need to completely grab hold of the specifics... especially if it's in a field you understand little about and have already decided won't ever fully understand. When I talk about specific aspects of learning programming, there's no way my gf would be able to remember specific trivia about a random language construct. She doesn't know enough about the subject for the info to do her any real good, and doesn't care about it beyond it being something I like, and thus she likes it by virtue of it making me happy.
Point is that unless we learn this flashback is specifically their preparation for both of them coming over to this world, there's ample reason to not get too down on Tara for not remembering this one aspect of the world.

To be fair to her, though, we don't know when that flashback takes place, right? Andrea's been here for months, and the actual flashback could be years ago. Especially if this half of the world is a particular interest area for Andrea. If Tara is used to Andrea giving out random facts about this world, then it's easy to let it gloss over. Think about any time your S.O. has talked to you about a specific detail of their work or school major. These are topics that come up enough to make you think you've heard it all and don't really need to completely grab hold of the specifics... especially if it's in a field you understand little about and have already decided won't ever fully understand. When I talk about specific aspects of learning programming, there's no way my gf would be able to remember specific trivia about a random language construct. She doesn't know enough about the subject for the info to do her any real good, and doesn't care about it beyond it being something I like, and thus she likes it by virtue of it making me happy.
Point is that unless we learn this flashback is specifically their preparation for both of them coming over to this world, there's ample reason to not get too down on Tara for not remembering this one aspect of the world.

To be fair to her, though, we don't know when that flashback takes place, right? Andrea's been here for months, and the actual flashback could be years ago. Especially if this half of the world is a particular interest area for Andrea. If Tara is used to Andrea giving out random facts about this world, then it's easy to let it gloss over. Think about any time your S.O. has talked to you about a specific detail of their work or school major. These are topics that come up enough to make you think you've heard it all and don't really need to completely grab hold of the specifics... especially if it's in a field you understand little about and have already decided won't ever fully understand. When I talk about specific aspects of learning programming, there's no way my gf would be able to remember specific trivia about a random language construct. She doesn't know enough about the subject for the info to do her any real good, and doesn't care about it beyond it being something I like, and thus she likes it by virtue of it making me happy.
Point is that unless we learn this flashback is specifically their preparation for both of them coming over to this world, there's ample reason to not get too down on Tara for not remembering this one aspect of the world.

It's interesting to apply this type of thinking / analysis / linguistics thought to programming languages. They have to be very rigidly defined...but still often grow and mutate over time...while still having to be absolutely rigid in their definitions and grammar. And the breaks tend to come from just outright creating a new language (if not outright whole cloth, then close to it).
EDIT: And I feel there's an interesting comparison to make between the two styles of language and how each type evolves and how they're created. Additionally, I feel there's an interesting conversation to be had between linguists on both sides.

It's still a misuse of the word "begs," while the fallacy's name, curiously, is not a misuse. Mistranslation, sure. Misuse, Charlotte was right the first time. (I wish there'd been a bit more to this comic, plot-wise, than basically that)

Elliot might have known about Susan prior to the comic starting, but mostly stayed clear because of her attitude towards males at the time. The day Susan invited "Ellen" to the lunch table seems to be the first time Elliot interacted with her.
Anyway, prior to the main eight forming, Nanase knew Susan, Elliot, Justin and of course Tedd.
Sarah just knew Susan, Elliot and Tedd.
Susan knew Nanase, Sarah, Elliot and Tedd.
Tedd knew Sarah, Elliot, Susan (he tended to avoid her as well before "Lunch Table Revelations") and of course Nanase.
Justin knew Nanase and Elliot.
Elliot knew or knew of them all, though he didn't know that Nanase was Tedd's cousin till after she broke up with him.
Grace showing up ended up causing Sarah to meet Justin and Nanase. Ellen's "birth" and the goo fight had them all officially meet each other.
I think that's about right.

Sports Illuminated
The Illuminati's internal publication about what is REALLY happening in athletics.
Do you think it was just a coincidence that Middle Tennessee's "upset" win  in the first round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament would ensure that there were absolutely no "perfect" brackets for the remainder of March Madness?  If you had read last month's Sports Illuminated, you would have known what was scheduled.
 

It seems like being reborn hasn't made Helena and Demetrius any less prone to enlisting innocent others in their fight against evil. Despite the good intentions, they are not very nice people, are they?

With such a wild name as "Anime Style Martial Arts" Mrs Kitsune may have been inclined to dismiss Greg's Dojo, just like Noah.  But this may have made it MORE attractive.  If Nanase's mother found the Phys-Ed and Sports programs at Moperville Schools to be inadequate or unacceptable she might have looked for an outside exercise or sport for her daughter.  A crazy title and a few flashy moves might be perceived as an equivalent to putting marshmallows in cereal, a way to get kids to swallow something that is good for them.

Why would it depend on that? If Raven really wanted to train Grace and/or her friends, he could easily talk to them outside of class. Still, I think it's up to the Main Eight to ask him first if they want his help.
I'm sure DGB has some competent magic teachers, but yes, I also think it'd be wiser to train with Greg or Raven. Arthur may not be an antagonist, but he doesn't seem to be very useful as a leader and I doubt he'd want a bunch of kids learning magic under his supervision, especially since he still wants to keep the availability of magic a secret. Of course, I could be wrong and the only way he would want those kids to learn magic would be under his supervision, but that might not end well.
I agree with all of this.
Like Scotty already said, Raven most likely sensed Justin's power as well. My guess is that he sensed the skills Justin had learned at the ASMA dojo before he got his mark.
Anyway, wow, I was way off when I said that Raven doesn't know about most of the Main Eight. I think you're right, Sarah and Susan are probably the only ones he hasn't met or heard of. Noah told him about Elliot, but it's unknown if Noah told him that Elliot is Ellen's brother, though I don't see why he wouldn't have told him that.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, EVERYONE knows Elliot now, so it really doesn't even matter how much Raven knew about him before.
This theory has some holes in it. I don't doubt that Pandora was the one who slowed the flow of magic in Moperville years ago, but it can't have happened when Raven first moved there. Remember, Raven taught Tedd's parents and Nanase's mom in high school and the whale said that Moperville had had more magic than usual for "most of Tedd's life" - in other words, long after Raven moved to Moperville and taught Tedd's parents.
I believe that Raven had a big fight with his mother fourteen years ago for whatever reason, and that's when she decided to slow the flow of magic in Moperville to either give her son more magic to use as an apology or to see him struggle to figure out just what the hell had happened.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Dan's said that he planned for the main arc of EGS to be post high school, back when initially developing the comic. My bet is that we're heading towards a Justice League, Avengers, or Incredibles style superhero team when they hit their college years.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Dan's said that he planned for the main arc of EGS to be post high school, back when initially developing the comic. My bet is that we're heading towards a Justice League, Avengers, or Incredibles style superhero team when they hit their college years.

Even if Greg isn't able to train Susan and Diane how to fight vampires, they could still go with Ellen and Grace and at least learn better defensive techniques or freely practice their magic (once Diane awakens, or gets marked which ever comes first). Nanase and Elliot could join them because Elliot needs to learn how to fight better while in Cheerleadra form, Justin could learn how to utilize his magic better now that he's awakened.
Gee... if this all happened half a year ago, Greg  wouldn't have needed to shut down the ASMA dojo.

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questions, questions....
Color (meh)
Prefered pets?
Curiosity, impulsiveness/deliberateness, creativity
Introverted/extroverted
Personality tests are a good place to look for ideas

Or, it might have been her reaching puberty that triggered the attack.  He let them take care of her until she showed signs of being potentially fertile, as many hybrids in the real world are not, and then claimed her.  If he found out about the eggs in the course of the raid, that might be why he then held off on raping her until finding out whether that better option panned out.  If making eggs is a conscious action, better to keep Grace afraid of him but relatively well-cared-for so she'd be less likely to flatly refuse to make them.  After all, if, in the end, he still couldn't get her to do it, hecould always go back to the original plan, in which she'd have no choice.... :-(

Another bugreport: Something broke fonts on site. Seems it's called ACME.

Yeah, the fonts look...off. Awkward, in a way. Titles are condensed and bold in bad ways, the forum headers are outlined hideously in white.
Also, the report post buttons are gigantic and seem like they're from a different site entirely. One designed 5 or 10 years ago.
EDIT: Yeah, boy. The fonts and those buttons are really bad. Woof. I can't seem to get over them. Also, because of the font change the spacing of the stuff in the navbar is off. The house icon is touching the edge of the blue box, and the "Mark site read" link is as well.
Additionally, the background color for "drag files here to attach" makes the "choose files" link near impossible to read. (Also, @Zorua pointed out that at the bottom of threads the navigation buttons [ie: "Go To Topic Listing"] should probably have a background color).

The other thing to consider, is Dan is doing this to make a living full time, and in order for him to make money he has to put out incentives for people to donate. It does kinda suck that he needs to give people a reason to donate other than just "support me making story and NP comics". I personally started supporting him on Patreon with the $5 tier before he switched to the pinup format so I didn't expect anything in return other than his continued work on the comics. As I said before, the change to the pinup format was just a bonus because it allowed me to participate in the idea and selection process, the fact that an idea I suggested was used was another bonus but for the most part, the process has been fun for me. Also the "Dan's Choice" pinups can still be considered him expressing his own creativity since they're his ideas even if they are part of the same format.
Another way of looking at this is Dan is trying to improve on himself as a person. You can look at the MV5 storyline and tell that he's for a while been uncomfortable with showing certain subject matter and that he hates that he's uncomfortable with it and is trying overcome this. The pinups as well I recall were something he stated he never considered doing before because he was uncomfortable with drawing nude characters or risque scenarios but had a desire to change.
IMO he seems to be having fun with this, and probably feels less stress doing these for $5 a person instead of stressing over whether a sketchbook for a $50 donator is good enough.

https://web.archive.org/web/20151116210514/http://community.910cmx.com/index.php?/topic/10364-please-be-courteous-and-respectful-to-your-fellow-posters/ may help, although taking the opportunity to refactor them somewhat might I suppose be a good idea.