ChronosCat

I'm still hoping Susan will accept a minor non-mental transformation just to get into the spirit of things. Maybe she could take the lifeguard "outfit" along with its mental effect, and just skip the physical changes? Or heck, that animal-tf-only cow!Susan in panel one looks pretty cute, I wouldn't mind her going with that.

I suspect if you had some sort of "gender-meter" that you could point at someone and it would tell you objectively what gender-category best fit them, it would place Ellen outside or between the "male" and "female" categories (in whatever category "gender-meh" was labeled as). However gender is such a personal issue that I think how a person chooses to label themself (or not label themself) is far more important than what a gender-meter would tell you - and not just because there's no such thing as a gender-meter. Magus is extremely insistent he's male - so much so that I'm sure he's not gender-meh, and is somewhat insecure about his gender or how people perceive his gender; it's also clear gender has been a source of conflict in his life. This leads me to suspect two possible scenarios: Magus identified as female as a child and still feels female inside, and is trying to convince himself he made the right choice, OR Magus has always identified as male but no one respected or believed that and when he finally got the chance to transition he had to come up with some sort of justification for why he was doing so. I'm not sure which is more likely. Either way, Magus clearly currently wishes to be referred to as male, so until/unless that changes I intend to use male pronouns for him.

But, I want to see her transformed again! ...Maybe if we're lucky she'll pick out a form with only minor changes (maybe a clothing card) to add to the mix for fun? Though the Patreon commentary doesn't really make it sound like that's going to be the case.

My initial reaction (before even reading the commentary, let alone this thread): "So, Magus, I'm still waiting for the part where you say that what you're planning on doing will allow her to change sex at will, and/or (preferably "and") actually ask her before doing anything..." Incidentally, this strengthens a hint of a suspicion I had reading the previous comic that Magus was a transgender man before changing sexes, but despite having the perfect solution to such problems his world isn't any more respectful towards the transgendered than ours generally is (in fact it might be worse). Changing sex is seen a sacrifice one makes for the sake of one's work, not something one does because one wants to. The "upper body strength" explanation sounds like an excuse because it is, cooked up to explain his transformation to those who he felt wouldn't understand that he always felt like a guy. Well, Tedd can fix a physical transformation - but (assuming Magus actually uses a permanent-sex-change spell) since Elliot and Ellen don't know about Tedd's wand, until they have a chance to talk with her they'll think Ellen is stuck with her base form being male. That could be somewhat traumatic for her, particularly considering how being female is part of the foundation of the life she spent so much effort building for herself; even if she consoles herself with the fact that she has access to a number of ways of changing back to her original form temporarily, it'll be the cause for some introspection.

Well, it's not as detailed as I'd like, and it wasn't where I first heard it (as I wasn't even reading EGS at the time), but back in 2004 Dan said that the Omega form was not a legion form. We know it's not a form she got from the TFG since she was surprised by it, so by process of elimination it has to be one the forms she was born with. EDIT: Actually come to think of it, I don't think we saw Grace showing surprise at the form. Still, she chose the Jeremy form earlier in Painted Black when breaking into the Nest, and Tedd had never seen the Omega form prior to her using it when mopping in the After Party, which I think does support my assertion that Grace didn't know she had the form.

No, Omega is Human + Squirrel + Lespuko (and maybe some Uryuom, I'm not sure about that), and is one of the forms available to her from birth (even though she didn't discover it until Painted Black). I'm sure this was stated somewhere, either in the comic or by Dan somewhere else, but I can't find it at the moment.

http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=751 Spoiler space below. (As an aside, would it work to change the text color for spoilers, or are different people likely to see the post backgrounds as different colors?) Well, I was partially right - Susan is considering the Cow form, it's jut not the only one she's considering. I think Susan ought to ask about the cards that were never played, in case one of them appeals to her. If that doesn't help, then based on the Patreon commentary (which says that Catalina can choose the Attract Bonus level, whether it increases, and at what speed), Susan ought to ask for the Cow form, but have Catalina hold it at level 1 (or whatever size Susan prefers).

Wow, this is at the worst end of the range of possibilities I predicted - and that's before we get to the part where we learn Magus doesn't trust Ellen to make her own decisions. (He knows Tedd has the TFG, so it should be pretty obvious even without knowing about Tedd's newest powers that it would be easy for Ellen to assume male form. Sure the TFG's effects are temporary, but it can be re-applied, and at any rate the fact that she has yet to even assume male form once when it is in her power to do so should go to show that having a male form isn't a high priority for her if it's something she has any interest in at all.) I have a suspicion that Magus is actually quite conflicted about this issue and is doubling down on his prejudice in an attempt to justify his previous decisions and actions. This reads to me more like someone who is trying to convince themselves of their arguments than someone who is perfectly confident in what they're saying. Of course that only provides some hope he might be able to change, it doesn't help anything in the mean-time. (Edit: Come to think of it, it might just make things worse in the mean time.) On a lighter note, yay for starburst background in six! (Although actually the image of smiling Terra in panel four lifts my spirits far more than a cool background in an unhappy panel.) It would be rather nicely ironic to have Mr. "I Became A Man To Be Stronger" beaten by the super-powered female form of someone who spends most of his time in male form...

Yes, that was specifically mentioned in the story. Edit: I suppose at this point I should clarify that this wasn't really a Ranma fanfic per sey, rather it was one of several stories set in a multi-author crossover universe, the opening story of which was heavily focused on Ranma 1/2. Also I don't remember what the particular story I've been talking about had to say about clothing, but another story set in that world did mention the rising popularity of unisex clothing. In fact Ami Mizuno (from Sailor Moon) was credited with inventing a t-shirt that could be adjusted between male and female proportions, and in the female setting doubled as a sports bra.

Yeah, it was a thoughtful, well written story (or so I thought at the time; it's been years since I read it) but some of the world building was depressing. One thing that always stuck with me though was the idea that giving people the ability to change their forms easily would not necessarily end prejudice and discrimination, it might just change how they are applied and who suffers the most from them.

My bet is on him having been assigned female at birth, and using magic to change sexes later in life, but not bothering to change his legal name. At any rate, note how he says that "people in this universe might find [the nickname Magus] less strange than my actual name", with emphasis on the "this" in "this universe". This implies that whatever the explanation is, people in his own universe wouldn't find it strange.

I can't take much credit for the idea; it's based very heavily on an old Ranma 1/2 fanfiction set in a world where Ranma's curse had been spread to most of the human population. "Gender" roles had become somewhat more rigid (and in particular many jobs were now for male-forms-only or female-forms-only) but most people accepted it because the roles were tied to one's current physical form rather than one's mental gender or what it said on one's birth certificate, and they could change their sex whenever they wanted (assuming the right temperature water was available); unfortunately the protagonist was one of a small number of people who couldn't easily change their sex.

http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=749 In case anybody hadn't noticed yet, it's up.

My guess: Susan's trying to figure out if she has the courage to ask for the cow form again.

He might be gender fluid, or perhaps he's outright transgender. In fact, if he needed magic to change his original body from biologically female to biologically male, that might tie in to his having the right magic to alter Ellen's FV5 beam to give him a male form. Alternately, maybe magical sex-changes are common in his world, but there are still expectations for how people should act when in a form of a specific sex. This could explain why he would expect Nanase to be male in his world; something about the way Nanase acts was coded male in his world, and Nanase would have been expected to change her body to match the way she wanted to act.

I would be interested in the decision-making process if I wasn't so impatient for the story to end. As for the rampage, my only interest in it is seeing the "the end" message on the final page (or however Dan indicates that the story is over).

I agree we had already seen some signs of her changing. However from what I recall most of those signs come from scenes where she's around Catalina and no one else she knows; I had assumed that she would keep a semblance of her old persona when around Diane and Lucy, or in public without Catalina. Of course she's been with Catalina the entire time in this story, so maybe that's helping boost her confidence. Even taking that into account though she's still changed since the last time we saw her, and even now I haven't gotten used to the change. As for it being in the "future", it does kind of feel like that, but based on the opening chapters it can't be too far in the future as they're not in college yet (or at least Liz isn't). She may have dressed "sexy" but she still acted pretty meek and shy back when she was first introduced and when Grace first met her.

Just because it's something many fans would like to see doesn't make it essential. Nor do we need to see every action of the characters - we could have skipped over them discussing the details and straight to the transformations taking place (or for that mater to them on the "Rampage" already transformed). I'm not saying every non-essential element needs to be cut from a story (if that was the case most stories would only be a few sentences long). It's just that I've had enough of this story, and was hoping we'd get a "highlights reel" epilogue rather than a fully detailed final chapter. Probably (otherwise this strip was even more unnecessary than I thought) and I hope so (I do like the genie outfit) but again we don't need to see every last detail of their decision making process.

So, this strip highlights something I've been noticing this entire story but never got around to commenting on: Rhoda is acting a lot different from what I'm used to from canon stories. She used to be meek, shy, and reserved, and if not necessarily "submissive" certainly a follower. In this story she's confident both in her sexuality and in general, outgoing, and dominant. Now, people can change, and it's even pretty obvious why she's changed: her magic (giving her a sense of power) and her relationship with Catalina (giving her a chance to become more confident in her sexuality, and encouraging her to develop her dominant side to help reign in Catalina's impulsiveness, an impulsiveness that even Catalina seems to know gets out of hand at times). However, I don't remember her being this changed the last time we saw her. Furthermore these changes would likely affect how she acted in private with Catalina and others she trusted long before it affected how she acted in public; barring seeing her acting more outgoing in public I had assumed that when not in private with Catalina and/or friends who she knows know about their relationship, she would still be the meek, shy girl we knew (or close to it). Of course, a complicating factor here is that this is non-canon; she can act however she wants in public without fear of consequences. (I'd also say that non-canon Rhoda might have actually known Ashley and known Susan better than in canon, but the way the opening of the story was written that doesn't seem likely.) Still, that doesn't change my feeling that this is too big of a change too fast, and that the Rhoda seen in this story is practically a different character from the one in previous canon stories.

*Warning: Venting ahead (also possible minor spoilers for today's NP) * Aarrgg! I wish Dan would hurry up with the conclusion to Goonmanji 2 already! That's the second strip in a row of non-essential exposition, further delaying the players' choices of forms (which I want to see) and the "rampage" (which I want to get over with so we can move on to a new story). Don't get me wrong, these strips have provided us with some interesting information, and I'm sure it'll read fine in the archives, but waiting for the strips one at a time all these side-tracks are really getting on my nerves. If Dan doesn't pick up the pace soon, I may need to take a break from NP for a week or two... grumble... *Venting over, thank you for your time.*

Well, he's a possibility too - but only if DGB stored his statue form in the warehouse, which given his track record seems like a poor choice to make. I think it's more likely he'll wake up in a secret prison somewhere, attempt to break free, and if successful track down Magus in a later story.

1. I'd be shocked if he did. This does not feel like a story-ending comic, particularly with Elliot there in the last panel looking like he's just about to vent his anger one way or another. Elliot and Magus are currently in a position of conflict, and that conflict needs to be resolved (or interrupted by bigger events) before the story can end. Furthermore, it seems to me that before the story ends we ought to see Magus leaving the facility (either under his own power or being taken captive) and see Ashley and this world's Dunkles get to a point where we can assume they'll get home safely. 2. Unless the next chapter is going to be the Epilogue, unlikely. In the commentary at the end of the previous chapter he said this one would likely be the final non-epilogue chapter of Sister 3. 3. Another reason I don't expect the story to end just yet. 4. If it occurs to them there might be anyone there. But before they can do that I think Ashley and Elliot need to decide whether Magus is friend or foe, and if foe deal with him somehow.

Bah, acronyms FTW.

While alternates certainly can have different names (Terra is probably Terra's real name, Nioi and SL Kaoli are alternates, and then of course there's Elliot/Beta!Ellen/SL!Ellen and Tedd/various Tesses), it wouldn't surprise me if Magus' real name is Elliot. Or maybe Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs?

Well, the good news is that the exploding crates have not caused any obvious immediate reaction from the artifacts within. Furthermore, the fact that we don't see them lying around suggests they're not important to the plot - well, the ones in those particular crates, anyway. I do wonder what happened to them, though. Were they blown out the window with most of the debris? Were they destroyed by the burst of flame from Sirleck dying? Meanwhile, Elliot looks ready for a fight. Will Magus or Ashley talk him down? Will Magus make his escape before Elliot can throw a punch? Or will the fight I've been expecting that leads to multiple artifacts activating and adding further complications to the plot (or at least letting Ashley experience a transformation in canon) be not between Magus and the Security/DGB (or as I was thinking until a few comics ago, Sirleck) but between Magus and Elliot? ...Oh, and incomplete-face Ashley is really cute.