ChronosCat

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?

I was specifically referring to this comic, where I interpret him to question for a moment whether he was right to kill his creators. Admittedly, he never showed any signs of doubting any of his other choices, and even if I'm reading him right he never got beyond "maybe" to fully accepting he did the wrong thing. It also in no way even comes close to redeeming him - it just makes him a tiny bit more human in my eyes, and perhaps a bit pitiable. I don't expect we'll ever consider Voltair a good guy, but I do expect that we'll find out he does have some non-evil traits, and perhaps reasons for why he is how he is that aren't his fault. (Also, after Pandora's heel/face turn I wouldn't be shocked if Dan did somehow find a way to make him truly sympathetic too, but I'm not expecting it.)

Mosquitoes that get in despite screens (possibly coming in when people go through the door) then buzz around you (occasionally biting you) all night. We somehow wound up with dozens of mosquitoes in the house last night, and I lost several hours of sleep thanks to them... (I wasn't quite sure whether to put this in the "annoyed" or "MAD" thread, because this isn't quite a capslock situation... but after having gotten only a few hours of sleep thanks to these mosquitoes I'm a lot more than just annoyed.)

Eh, then the drama just becomes about people fighting over the "lamp" (or whatever item allows you to control the genie). Not a perfect example, as he did nothing to protect Jaffar from the side effects of his final wish, but the Genie from Disney's Aladdin usually fulfilled wishes faithfully and without unexpected downsides (again, except that one time). Also, considering that classic Mary Sues often have tragic backstories, wishing to be one might not be the best choice if your backstory isn't currently tragic... Even being the invincible main character that's always right and everyone who isn't a jerk (or worse) admires can have it's price...

And then there's Damien, who was under the mistaken impression that A. he was a god, and b. that meant he could do whatever he wanted. He never truly repented, but at the end when he started to question his divinity, he did seem to acknowledge that if he wasn't a god his actions had been wrong. Frankly, I expect that as we get to know Voltaire & General Shade Tale better they'll turn out to have reasons for their evil acts that readers can be sympathetic to. (And I'm almost sure Lord Tedd himself will be fully redeemed in the end.)

May 26 in EGS History: 2009 - Magus rants at Nanase, Chaos warns him that Ellen's life is in danger, then the power goes out. 2010 - Susan tells of the first time she summoned a hammer. 2014 - Sarah comes to a decision regarding whether to use vampire cards; meanwhile her vampire and werewolf selves transform into their monstrous forms and get in a fight. That's quite an imagination Sarah has there to have things going on in the background she's not even paying attention to... 2017 - Ellen zaps Greg and his evil doppelganger with her FV5 beam. But which one is which?

May 23 in EGS History: 2002 - Tedd explains to Grace why he wears glasses. (We would later learn that he wears his hair the way he does for similar reasons.) 2003 - Hedge spies on Elliot, Sarah, "Claire", and "Tedd"... and eats some popcorn. 2007 - Grace dreams of what her first day of school will be like. There are a few inaccuracies. May 24 in EGS History: 2004 - Nioi nose-beeps Ellen. Just a bit of playfulness with no consequences, I'm sure. 2006 - The gang plays spin-the-bottle. (Now if only Dan had drawn what had happened next.) 2010 - Susan tells Sarah and Grace about how she and Nanase met the Immortals we now know as Helen and Demetrius. Ah, the tale of the wise old magic user (or users) recruiting children to heroically fight the forces of evil never gets old! Time travelers told them, of course. That time they just made a lucky guess.

May 20 in EGS History: 2003 - Tony is shocked when he accuses "Tedd" of being on a date with "your boyfriend" and she agrees. (I love how Grace then corrects herself. "Oh, wait... I'm the boyfriend tonight." ) 2004 - Ellen, Nanase, and Justin bid farewell to Ellen's allowance. 2005 - Tedd sets out to make Grace's birthday party the best party ever. May 21 in EGS History: 2010 - Grace dubs Susan "Susan the Vampire Slayer". May 22 in EGS History: 2014 - In Sarah's imagination, a were-wolf version of herself shows up riding an alicorn.

Under many circumstances, shooting "sleep" first and asking questions later would be the safest action to take. Unfortunately, in this case it leaves no one to tell Arthur that the real culprit is getting away (except Kevin, who probably doesn't know enough about the situation to explain that much, and also is probably going to be less likely to be believed than a human being). The spell also wouldn't have helped much if the Golem were still active, and isn't going to help with any other active and dangerous artifacts either. Incidentally, with Elliot, Ellen, and Ashley's adventures in the Warehouse presumably over, I wonder if we're even going to find out what the core of the Diamond was in this story?

How can you possibly get the two of them confused when Ellen has green hair?!

So then the question of which one Voltaire is would be the question of whether he's the real thing or an imitation?

May 19 in EGS History: 2002 - We learn that when watching the video of the night's events, Grace insisted Sarah and Tedd watch the part where Grace took off her shirt. We are not told if they looked. 2009 - Grace smacks Ellen in the head for being such a dummy. Yet another example of the violent side hidden beneath her bubbly exterior. 2014 - Sarah imagines a vampire version of herself trying to seduce her. We also learn that she doesn't consider herself entirely straight anymore - but of course the more important issue at the moment is card games.

What's the difference?

Yay for -- no, wait, that's just the light of a magic door opening near Ellen. Never mind. ... I wonder, what exactly does Ellen want from Magus? For a fraction of a second I thought maybe she did want the male-form spell after all, but there are a lot of problems with that possibility (the biggest being that unless Elliot and/or Ashley managed to fit in a lot of exposition off screen she has no idea that was his plan); still I could see Magus interpreting it that way anyway. So did she just want to talk with him? Or is there something else she was hoping to get from him?

May 17 in EGS History: 2002 - Tedd misses out on his first opportunity to see Grace without a shirt. Don't worry Tedd, there will be many others. 2010 - Susan sanitizes her, Sarah, and Grace's hotel room; Sarah passes up on the opportunity to sleep with Grace. (I agree with Tedd's Fourth-Wall-Breaking reaction.) May 18 in EGS History: 2002 - Tedd decides the best way to wrap up the evening would be to offer Grace catnip. [Insert obligatory drug joke.]

If I were in human form I'd ask for a furry feline form; however, as I am that would be redundant. ...Hmm... Should I cheer for the starburst background? On the one hand I've came to the conclusion the Goonmanji 2 transformations produce a burst of light. On the other hand, they usually produce smoke as well, and the final panel seems to be a few moments after the transformation. Ah, what the heck. Yay for starburst background in panel three!

So, Dan's been talking about how he's about to be an evil cartoonist, and he even mentions how Magus won't have time to talk with a certain person due to the quick arrival of DGB. My prediction: Magus is in a rush, so he zaps Ellen into a masculine body without asking. While a morally wrong action on Magus' part, I don't object to it as a reader as I know Tedd can fix the physical effects easily enough and Ellen is resilient enough there shouldn't be too much mental trauma. On the other hand, it is annoying how similar the situation is to the end of Painted Black with Nioi and her nose-beep. (The alternate result of Magus not having time to talk with Ellen (which is to say, his not zapping her) wouldn't be particularly interesting or evil, so I doubt that's it.) Random (unlikely) speculation: Thanks to having absorbed the energy of the Dewitchery Diamond, Ellen can now create duplicates of herself with any enchantments that have been placed on her; being zapped into male form will allow her to make more Elliots (though they'll all have green hair unless she uses a hair-color-changing spell too). ...Finally, this isn't in a dream world, and it doesn't seem to be representing a flash of light or anything else that would be visible in the world of the comic, soooo.... Yay for starburst background in panel three!

May 15 in EGS History: 2002 - Grace gains the Jeremy form whe Tedd zaps her with it for the first time. Her shirt suffers badly from the experience. 2003 - Tedd shows off how she looks as Claire in one of Grace's dresses, as well as her flawless Grace impression. May 16 in EGS History: 2014 - Sarah discovers that she is in possession of O.P. Aludrakrala. Let all who oppose her tremble in fear.

May 14 in EGS History: 2003 - Grace reveals her plans for a near-perfect evening, which include what is likely the first time Tedd has ever been able to be openly in "female" form in public. 2012 - Mr. Tensaided hires Elliot.

May 13 in EGS History: 2003 - Grace helps Tedd get changed for their movie date... using the TFG. 2005 - Dr. Sciuridae gives Grace a pep talk, and convinces her to assume her half-squirrel form once more. (Incidentally, this is one of my favorite transformation sequences in the comic - quite possibly my favorite period.)

May 12 in EGS History: 2003 - Sarah and Elliot meet with Tedd and Grace for their movie double-date, but something's not quite right... (At least that's what the title says; everything looks fine to me.) 2004 - Damien self-destructs. I hate it when they do that. 2008 - Catalina asks Susan out. 2010 - Grace's picture goes up on an unnamed pancake house's Wall of Fame for eating their "Pancake Mount Doom" meal in one sitting. 2014 - Half of the players at the Card Tournament arrive with barely five seconds left to spare.

Somehow, I usually wind up encountering some promotion for the big anniversaries. As for Transformers toys, I was just disappointed my parents couldn't afford to get me the toys of all my favorite characters from the show.

Wow, I'd forgotten that the original Star Wars was only a few years older than me. When I saw the original trilogy as a kid, I just assumed they were classic movies from a previous generation (I was unaware at the time that Return of the Jedi had actually been released when I was a toddler) and I even knowing their release dates I still tend to think of them that way. As for "now I feel old", I started to get that when things I became a fan of when they came out when I was a kid (like Transformers & Ninja Turtles) started hitting their 30th anniversaries, and stuff from when I was a teen (like Sonic the Hedgehog) started hitting their 20th anniversaries.

May 11 in EGS History: 2011 - Noah breaks the Bulldog dragon's neck; it unbreaks a moment later. 2015 - Elliot comes to a remarkable insight into the direction the story is going. 2016 - Detective Block cracks the case.

May 10 in EGS History: 2010 - Grace figures out that the earthquake was too weak and too far away to knock over the artifact. Then her pancakes arrive. 2017 - Ellen tells Elliot that she identifies as female. And also that she's skimmed a lot of wiki articles. I've heard stories, but never seen one. (Same for the 8-Track Tape. On the other hand, I am familiar with vinyl records, and even owned a few as a kid.)