ChronosCat

I haven't seen any MASH (besides the end of a few episodes back when they were playing it just before a show I was actually planning on watching), but my understanding is that while they claimed it was set in Korea, it was actually commenting on the Vietnam war. So perhaps it's best to think of the show as taking place in an alternate universe where Korea dragged on like Vietnam did in real life. As for EGS, while there are some periods in the comic's timeline that are strangely busy, I'm pretty sure it could all technically happen in the amount of time Dan said it did (well, if all the magic and soft sci-fi stuff could happen at all). I also don't think I've personally felt thrown off by the timeline, though I must admit the slow pacing does annoy me at times.

I didn't bring this up at the time of the first strip mentioning Nanase's character's backstory because I thought it would be too depressing, but my Grandmother died after falling down her basement stairs. I've been a lot more careful around stairs myself ever since. I also can no longer laugh at jokes about stairs, which makes the lighthearted way this story is handling the matter a bit annoying for me (on the other hand, I do find myself with a lot of sympathy for Nanase's character).

The information in this page was so little of a surprise to me that for a moment after reading the page I wondered why we needed this page. (Mind you, it was neat to see one of Noah's biological parents*, and that his left eye looks like a Uryuom eye.**) Then I remembered that recently Dan had mentioned he would be revealing something he'd known for years but had forgotten to reveal, which made me realize Dan never actually said before that Noah was a seyunolu or that he had antenna and an unusual eye; I had forgotten that until now that was just speculation that I had assumed to be true. * I initially assumed it was his mother, until Darth Fluffy pointed out that Noah never knew his mother. (I rarely follow the links under the comics, and I didn't remember that detail.) The fact that Noah's father also looked rather feminine certainly makes his comments about human assumptions about gender presentation hit harder... ** I had forgotten until Zorua pointed it out that we've seen Noah's left eye before and it looked human. And yet, Noah continues to hide it. I wonder if that's just habit, or if the method of disguise is unreliable? (My guess: it's an illusion spell cast by Raven, and it sometimes wears off.)

Darth Fluffy already mentioned the backgrounds, but as usual it falls to me to give the traditional cheer (probably because I'm the only one who cares about it anymore). Yay for bubbly background in panel two!

I initially read that as "elven herbs & spices".

Do you mean returning to Moperville or returning to the school? Because we have no indication he's even left town. At any rate this seems like a good point to mention: I saw someone speculate (on Twitter, I think) that Raven was going to go to work at Moperville University (just as the main cast start attending). Dan's response implied they were on the right track (though he didn't outright confirm anything).

Well, it is possible to have masculine features (including masculine genitals) without a Y chromosome. On the other hands one of the original purposes of the TFG was supposedly to help restore species with low numbers, so having the full range of common genetics seems like it would be a good idea...

So, the person Diane is avoiding is presumably Adrian Raven... I'm now suspecting an important part of this arc will be her finally talking with him about their relationship and trying to get to know him as her biological father rather than just her teacher. Which gives me a new prediction who the "brother" the title refers to is: Noah.

The fact that this prologue/recap was about Diane suggests to me that the arc will be as well (particularly as Dan is hoping to make it a short arc, which presumably means not too many plot threads being covered at once). So I'm guessing it has to do with a brother of Diane (adopted or biological). (There's also the possibility that, in the spirit of the original "Sister" arc, thanks to sex-change magic Diane will wind up temporarily in the role of "brother" to someone.)

Arthur is very "the ends justify the means" (except for the part where he doesn't think the "justification" makes it morally right), while Grace is still trying to find a balance between pacifism and an urge to be a ruthless protector. In the short term working for Arthur could lead her to facing moral dilemmas she isn't prepared to deal with. In the long term, working for Arthur or someone like him could lead her to adopt a similar attitude, which I think would be unfortunate. Of course I'm basing this on her current attitudes and maturity; maybe after college she'd be in a more stable place mentally. On the other hand, is Arthur even going to still be in charge of the paranormal division of the FBI by the time the main cast get out of college? (He seems to want to retire again as soon as possible.)

Oddly enough I was thinking that Elliot might make a good agent, but the role wouldn't be a very good fit for Grace - and under a boss like Arthur or that snake-themed-woman (I forget her name) it could be very unhealthy for her.

Yay for fiery background in panel two! (Ah, it feels good to cheer for symbolic backgrounds again.) I haven't studied the Crusades in detail, so maybe I'm missing some reason why Crusaders/Paladins would be more likely to fade away than other cultural institutions, but based on what I do know: The trick is to have a culture which is fairly stable/stagnant (other than occasional wars and regime changes) over very long periods of time, such as imperial China, or (more relevantly) most generic fantasy settings.

I suspect it's not the burnout itself that was "healed", but the hair discoloration.

I'm not well versed in "Disney Funny Animal" "canon", so maybe there are contradictions to this, but I always assumed Micky, Donald, Goofy, etc. were "people that look like animals" while Pluto was an actual dog. (If nothing else, they appear to have went with that idea in the original Duck Tales cartoon; in one early episode the "ducks" and other anthropomorphic characters are all referred to as "human"!)

I wasn't online yesterday (in fact I wasn't on the computer at all) so I didn't notice. However, ever since I returned to the forums a few years ago, I've noticed I occasionally couldn't access the forums; except for that one time it's always came back within a day or two. Hopefully, yesterday was just another random blip. (On the other hand, between that months long down time and the fact that last I checked it still wasn't possible for anyone new to sign up for the forums, I've been feeling like the forums are on borrowed time for a while now.)

On the one hand, some explanations aren't necessary and may make things less fun (most people hate midichlorians, for example). Furthermore, just explaining a lot about the setting can make people expect explanations for everything, and in a story with huge deviations from reality that just isn't possible. Also of course nerds like us will often then try to puzzle out those unexplained things, which (as in this case) may reveal things that don't make sense that maybe weren't so obvious at first glance. On the other hand, a well fleshed out world is easier to accept as "real", and learning about a detailed fictional world can be fun. It's also important that the author at least has a good idea in their own heads of how things work, so things don't get too inconsistent (it's rarely a good thing when an audience is wondering when a character got a certain ability and why they didn't use it when it would have been useful before - or worse yet, why they don't use it again). To complicate matters, how much needs to be explained varies depending on the story (and in particular, on how seriously one is supposed to take the story). I think Dan has a good feel for how much explanation to give these days* (and has for quite a while)**. The big problem is that the story has become more serious over the years (or at least, did so over the first few years), and Dan didn't really think the world of EGS through very well at the beginning, thus requiring lots of retcons to make the world make enough sense to suit the current tone - and some of those lingering bits of nonsense are too deeply entrenched in the worldbuilding to be easily retconned. * Although he does occasionally go overboard when trying to make sure the audience understands what he wants them to understand. ** Other than his bad habit of providing details of the magic system in the main story where it messed with the pacing, instead of in supplementary material where such optional info belongs. tl;dr: Explaining fantasy is not always a bad thing if done in moderation. Dan's problem is not that he explains too much, but that certain bits of worldbuilding he came up with twenty years ago don't hold up to scrutiny.

Last week I got TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection (a collection of the TMNT video games of the 80s & 90s). I've been playing it a lot since then, and really enjoying it. I played most of the included games as a kid, so this has been a great trip down memory lane. I was afraid they might not be as good as I remembered, but the ones I've played so far have ranged from "decent" to "really good". That said, the primary appeal of them was always and remains the classic TMNT elements; I can't imagine the collection would have a lot to offer someone who wasn't a TMNT fan.

Chronos Cat is a fictional character; however these days I post more as the creator of that character than as that character themselves. As such, you could say I'm Chronos Cat in name only.

I see freckles, though I have to look closely to see them on the main site. In the HD version on Patreon, they're quite obvious.

I wouldn't say Rich finds that frightening; more like it makes her even more hot to him. After all, he likes girls who can "crush" him.

I thought of this after posting; I guess my "technically" depends on where you live (though on the other hand "failure to consummate" is only relevant if someone wants the marriage ended). Hmm. Perhaps "optional" wasn't precise enough a term. I probably should have said something like "not obligatory". That said, unless Lavender goes full human clone-form or is otherwise very careless about what form she takes, she and Edward aren't in danger of having children accidentally. (In fact, even if a non-human in a human clone-form would be fertile, based on what was said during the party about standard TF forms, that fertility would probably take days or weeks (I forget exactly how long it was) to kick in.) If the goal is recreation, I think Lavender would want to avoid creating a womb, or any other feminine body parts not required for she and Edward to enjoy the experience. As for shapeshifting helping with pregnancy, it might be able to help with some things, but it wouldn't change the fact that one was carrying around precious and sensitive "cargo" inside oneself. In fact, being pregnant would probably greatly limit the shapeshifting one could safely do (which would be its own sort of inconvenience); if nothing else one wouldn't be able to safely shift anything relating to the womb. (I remember that the TFG's safeties prevent or at least severely limit how it can be used on those who are pregnant.) As for the ability of Uryuom eggs to create hybrids of species very distantly related to one another, or possibly from separate planets (though that last bit is still up in the air after the Will of Magic's declaration), it's not something I would accept in a hard sci-fi story, and I still puzzle over why Uryuoms would have that ability (never mind how). Still, EGS is a fantasy story (that just so happens to borrow a few sci-fi tropes) and also theoretically a comedy; sometimes you just have to accept that parts of the story & worldbuilding are silly and don't really make sense, and move on.

While it seems a safe assumption that Edward and Lavender will be having some sexy fun in the bedroom (and may well have already done so), I feel the need to point out that dating and marriage do not technically require the couple to have sex (and certainly do not require the sort of intercourse which can lead to children). Having children is also optional, and while a married hetrosexual couple not having children is relatively uncommon, there are many who don't (in fact I have an aunt and uncle who have been married for a couple decades and never had kids, despite being young enough for it when they got married). If it turns out Edward and Lavender do want children, however, I would assume they would use an Uryuom egg, as they're made for that sort of thing (and from what I've heard, being pregnant can be rather inconvenient).

I heard the battle was 50% knowing, 25% blue lasers, and 25% red lasers.

In addition to chores and other responsibilities, I have a lot of hobbies, including a huge backlog of books/tvshows/movies/videogames/etc. that I want to get around to (and I add to that list faster than I can go through them); as a result the only time I'm not busy is when I'm deliberately taking a break, am too indecisive to decide what to do, or too low energy to do much of anything at all (and even then if I don't want to sleep, I can usually find something not-particularly-involving to read or watch to occupy my mind). Outside of a handful of times where the only things I wanted to do I didn't have time for (or I wasn't able to do for some other reason), I don't think I've been bored in years.

https://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/2022-013 While I prefer pictures of the main characters (or at least characters I'm more familiar with), I really like how this one came out. (Incidentally, I'm a little surprised no one started this thread already. I wasn't online all weekend, but I know a few people were on the forums. Did no one have anything to say about this one, or did some of you miss it?)