ChronosCat

One nice thing about a snapshot of an in-progress transformation, is the viewer gets to decide how far it will go. (I know in my head-canon it's going to go quite a bit farther!) I love the fangs and claws, and the fact that we get to see the collar in the process of putting itself on her. Her expression is great too; I don't think even Ashley was this exited to be transformed. Of course, it is my self-appointed duty to say: Yay for double-starburst background! Really the only thing about this picture I don't love is the modern-day magician's wand; I've always thought that style of wand looked a little silly. I think Dan just mentioned "Escape from the Mall" to remind readers who might have forgotten about her what story she was in. Where this is taking place, like so much else about the picture, is up to the viewer to decide. That said, I highly encourage Kitty to RESIST THE TYRANNY OF SHOES!

I can't see Dan going with "Magic as something that will eventually be permanently used up"; if it won't happen for thousands of years or more then there's little point in making it a plot point, and if it's in danger of happening soon either we eventually wind up with EGS without magic, or a search for new sources of magic - and as those sources would likely belong to other intelligent beings who wouldn't want to give them up, it would lead to a major shift in mood for the series. I was picturing it as a renewable resource. In fact, I was picturing it more like water than energy resources. It flows from place to place (like from one "side" of the world to the other and back), and has a natural cycle to it. Humans and other beings can take from this supply, but after doing so the magic is returned to the pool in a state that requires it to work it's way through the cycle a bit before it's usable again. So the danger isn't a matter of everyone everywhere running out of magic forever, so much as certain places running low on usable magic for a time.

On the one hand, it clashed with the somber tone of Anakin's funeral, and the Ewoks probably had some dead to mourn too, so I can understand why Lucas changed it. On the other hand, it was a perfect song to celebrate a major victory against the Empire (or the decisive blow against them, as it was considered prior to The Force Awakens) and the end of the original storyline - and it was really really fun. I saw your previous post but I couldn't figure out how to word my response so I just moved on. I'll give it a try now, though. It's possible that Magic is just referring to the cycle of major changes, and that there might still be minor changes in the future (and of course a long series of minor changes can add up to a major change); however that doesn't seem to quite fit with what Magic is saying here. I have a theory I hadn't got around to mentioning yet that the Will of Magic is actually a gestalt of the personal magic of all human magic users (with each person's magic itself being influenced by that person's personality). In this case, if the new magic system should turn out to be flawed badly enough that a majority of people don't like it, it's possible Magic may initiate a new change to fix the problem. At any rate, while you're right that the decision is not to be made lightly, just because something is how it's always been done doesn't mean it's the right thing. The modern world is very different from all previous ages, so it may be that the time has come for the Will of Magic to change how it operates rather than how the magic system works. You suggested one of the ways magic could change was limiting how much magic was available. I'm suggesting that the magic supply is already limited and the only thing the Will of Magic can do about it is change how many people can use magic. (Though if the Will of Magic allowed more people to use magic, that would produce similar results to your scenario, with individual magic users not able to cast as many or as powerful spells as they can at this point.)

First of all, assuming by "Original Trilogy" you are referring to Star Wars, I think "disastrous" is a bit extreme of a term for the revised versions. Sure, "Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope (Special Edition)" is inferior to the original Star Wars, but it's still a good movie. And in my opinion the Special Edition versions of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are just as good as the original versions, just different (though I do object to the way the original versions have been made hard to find; people should be able to choose which version they want to watch). Secondly, while I'd prefer magic not change much (I like it the way it is, and I'm also hoping to see a modern-day world with magic out in the open), I don't think having a large change would be disastrous for EGS. We'd still have the same characters we've come to know and love, and no doubt the new magic system would allow for a lot of the same content (I can't see Dan abandoning the various transformation elements when he seems to enjoy them as much as the fans). It might be fun seeing the characters learn how to use the new magic system, and with Seers to help it would only be a matter of time before the main cast was using magic again, probably with a magic system that is even better than this one (I don't think Dan would make a major change to the magic system unless he had something really good in mind). Finally, regarding the possibility of Arthur being evil (and the implication that would be why he's arguing for a big change), I highly doubt it. It's extremely rare for Dan to create a truly evil character (not counting the Aberrations, Damien is really the only one we know enough about to say for sure, though if Voltair isn't I'll be surprised), and even when he does, being evil isn't their motivation, it's just a character trait. I would like to take this opportunity to mention again my theory that the reason the Will of Magic doesn't want everyone to be able to use it is that there's a limited supply of magic and that with the world population what it is, there simply isn't enough to go around and leave anyone with enough magic to do anything with it.

Now a sketchbook entry: http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php?id=891

She has a tail too (it's the orange-tan thing above her ponytail), though either Dan forgot part of it or most of it is hidden behind her head. But yeah, if I were choosing today I'd go with cow-Ashley. Keep in mind however that Dan is way behind with the Milestone Images; this one was picked out in July.

Well, America's Got Talent is pretty similar to a variety show, and that's pretty popular. And Saturday Night Live is still hanging in there... According to the Wikipedia article on variety shows, the reasons for the decline in variety shows were "changing tastes" and the fracturing of the television audience with the rise of cable and satellite channels. I suppose when you can get a huge variety of content just by channel flipping, there's not much need for a single show to provide variety. Also, apparently there are some parts of the world where variety shows are still popular, particularly many Asian nations.

I assume you're speculating on the in-universe origin of his name? (Dan mentioned where he got the idea for the name in the commentary, after all.) Also, on twitter Dan compared Magic's translation ability to Google Translate. Granted, it was a joke, but I suspect it's not far from the truth. Magically translated speech would probably be either garbled or awkwardly worded.

I have two things to say about this comic. One: Hanma actually has a good excuse for not knowing about poodle skirts. After all, she reset relatively recently and does not actually live in the culture 24/7 (not to mention that her primary interest in human culture is Anime). As for Dan, I suppose it's a relatively useless piece of trivia so no fault to him for not knowing, but I am still a little surprised; poodle skirts are one of those cultural things that I know about without knowing how I know about them, so I would tend to assume most people in western (or at least American) culture would know too. Two: Yay for double-starburst background in panel 3! I lived through the 80s and have never watched a complete episode (in fact I don't think I even saw any clips of it until the 90s). I did however get a good dose of 50s nostalgia in the form of Back to the Future. Considering Vinyl has made a bit of a comeback, that bit of advice isn't necessarily true. Also, I'm sure plenty of people who have no idea what a vinyl record is still understand what is meant by the phrase "broken record" thanks to hearing it in context. I suspect (barring the collapse of modern civilization) that a large number of popular books, movies, tv shows, etc. from the 20th and 21st centuries will continue to be remembered and enjoyed for centuries to come, much like there are a large number of "classics" from the 19th century and earlier still being read. However, thousands of years from now, only a handful will likely remain - stories which were popular enough in their time not to fade into obscurity before they became classics, but well enough made that continued to speak to people in entirely different eras. It's fun to wonder what might last that long. (I could see the Lord of the Rings books, the classic Star Wars trilogy, and Hayao Miyazaki's films lasting... Sadly, as much as I love it, I don't think EGS is well known enough or the early parts of it well made enough for it to last past the 21st century.)

I've seen a couple poodles with their fur trimmed to an even length; they looked a lot less ridiculous than ones with the traditional style.

So it really is just the three of them. I suppose given such a small number, it's not too far-fetched for random chance (or if Tedd and Van are both seers because they're related, not-so-random chance) to produce such a lack of diversity, and it may well be that the plot required it to be this three, but I'm still a little disappointed in Dan. If he foresaw this moment early enough he could have laid the foundations for it to have greater diversity; alternately he could have included a few more seers, with different ethnicities and with someone besides Tedd who is female. On a related note, on Twitter Dan mentioned that Magic can't easily translate between one language and another, at least not enough for a conversation like this, and if he had included people who didn't speak English the meeting would have wound up with separate groups all having their own discussions. First of all, I don't see what would have been wrong with that; he could have shown that people of all sorts from all around the world were involved, then focused in on the conversation that we're concerned with. Secondly, it's his story, he could have given Magic super translating powers. Third, English is a fairly common second language worldwide; there would have been a good chance many or all of the others could have still understood and participated in the English discussion even if English wasn't their native tongue. Not that this has any affect on your point, but I thought I'd point out that the TFG wasn't built in some corporation's factory, it was built by William's parents.

There is no reason for Tedd to realize this AT ALL. It might wait for next time they meet. Well, assuming Magic makes it's decision this chapter, the next time they meet would count as "after Magic has made it's decision".

A starburst with popcorn! Yaaaaay! *throws popcorn into the air like confetti* Seriously though, my goal is to cheer for special backgrounds but not special effects. I've been running on the assumption that the starburst effect is artistic license for dramatic effect but that the puffs of "smoke" are actually there, which is why I've only been mentioning the starbursts.

Maybe what you would need would be a soft surface?

I hope Van isn't Tedd's brother, or that if he is this fact isn't revealed until after Magic has made it's decision. Tedd needs to be on her A game right now; the last thing she needs is the emotional trauma of learning that the mother she feels abandoned her went on to have another child who she actually stayed with. I really hope these three aren't the only eligible seers. In addition to the points you made, all of them are Caucasian or part-Caucasian, and unless Dan throws us a major curve-ball none of them are full-time females. If these three are supposed to represent the world, they're seriously lacking in diversity. Yes, but that would only change her for up to a maximum of one month. She couldn't even make a change to male be permanent, the way a change to female is made permanent by pregnancy. Tedd wouldn't want to be one sex permanently, anyway. I doubt she'd even want to stay in male form for the full month; she's always liked to spend a good amount of her free time in female form. Assuming spells from the old magic system still work in the new system. I still think the old spells will at least need to be modified in order to be used in the new system, if they can be made to work at all. I figured Diane and Susan still counted since the started as "maybe sisters" and seem to have ended as "sisters in spirit". And the storyline involving Magus, Sirleck, Elliot, and Ellen is still building upon the consequences of the first Sister story, so I think that alone would be enough to justify the Sister III title.

I've never liked the traditional poodle fur-trim, and as a result I am not a fan of this form. Still, yay for starburst background in panel two.

Yes. I also forgot the next page, which is much better shipping material seeing as it's not the result of a deceptive camera angle. What can I say, I remember the stuff from early in the comic a lot better than the stuff from two years ago, thanks to having read it more times. (There's even a lot of things from earlier in Sister III that I had forgotten until it was brought up on the forums or I rediscovered it looking up information for our discussions on Immortals and the Magic Change.)

But can everybody in the other half use magic? In "this" half of the world (almost) everybody has the potential to gain magic but it being a secret keeps the numbers of mages down. In the other half of the world magic is well known but the majority of the population might be unable to gain magic.

I was under the impression the WoM didn't understand or care about "good" and "evil". Which does raise the question what it's problem is with how magic was being used. A thought that just occurred to me: what if it isn't so much that WoM wants magic to be a secret or only a relatively small number of people to use magic, what if there is only so much magic to go around, and if everybody in the world got an equal amount, no one would have enough to do anything with it? The WoM would then have to find a way to restrict either who can use Magic or who knows how to use Magic to ensure that magic can be used at all.

I think I've seen that chart before. I have to say I like how neatly it's laid out; there was a similar chart years back but it was a tangled mess. I don't think Jeremy's interest in Susan is romantic or sexual, I don't think the Demonic Duck was interested in more than a fling, I don't remember any evidence of Diane/Charlotte (though I could have just forgotten), and I'm not sure what the chart is referring to with Susan/Fairy Summon. Otherwise any number of pairings or small groups could be made from the connections on the chart; however the larger the group the harder it would be for it to stand up as a single romantic/sexual unit. Even with my 9-character group you'd likely wind up with a group of friends-with-benefits with the actual romances mainly restricted to groups of two or three within the larger group of friends; the group would be even less cohesive at 15 or 23.

All that time spent in the basement as Tedd's assistant certainly influenced her behavior. Oh, she was a Tedd long before she started working with him, she just has more opportunities to bring it out these days (at least in non-canon material). As Herald Loveall said on the forums back in 2010 (in one of a handful of posts by various people I've saved copies of): And later on, she said outright that she's always been interested in transformation.

When I first read through the archives, before it became clear Ellen had set her sights on Nanase, I shipped Ellen/Tedd/Grace. I could still sort of see that working, but now it would have to be Nanase/Ellen/Tedd/Grace, with Nanase and Tedd not interacting romantically/sexually. (And with half the main 8 already part of the group I'd be tempted to add the rest of them plus Ashley so they didn't feel left out, but that would be a highly impractical and a little ridiculous.)

Well, we didn't get to see Catalina walk to get her bonus card but this is pretty good too. Yay for double-starburst in panel two! I think perspective is why the dice look so big compared to Catalina in panel two (as well as last monday).

I figured he either doesn't know about Seers or doesn't realize they'll know things about the new rules of magic without seeing someone use the new magic first, and his thought is "If magic changes then my job of hiding it will be really easy for a while." It's also possible magic doesn't change enough to disrupt his spell, or that the spell is "grandfathered" in for his safety (at least until he next awakens). As for the options you mentioned, Dan has mentioned before not liking inanimate TFs. So I highly doubt he'd have Abraham become a lifeless statue. (I suspect the only reason Dan even was comfortable with the statue transformation in the first place was because it Abraham did it to himself on purpose and is unconscious the entire time.)

I don't see why she'd have a problem wearing those shoes without socks, unless for some reason they're a lot more uncomfortable than any of the sneakers I've worn without socks. Personally I find that sneakers are more comfortable with socks so long as the socks are comfortable, but on a warm day given the choice between wearing socks that tug at my leg hairs and no socks at all I'd choose no socks. As for whether she has fur on her feet, if they are consistent with her hands, then the soles of her feet and the bottoms of the ends of her toes are without fur, but the rest of the surface of her feet has fur. I suppose the idea Pharaoh RutinTutin mentioned that this form was specifically designed with fur-less feet to go with those socks is possible, but it seems like it would have been more practical to make a form that can go with multiple "outfits" (including no footwear) and just wear loose socks with it (or sandals if she doesn't have any loose socks and doesn't want to wear her shoes without socks).