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      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!

ChronosCat

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Posts posted by ChronosCat

  2. Posted

    55 minutes ago, Vorlonagent said:

    And he's really not anything 2.0.   He's the Immortal Previously Known as Jerry, who is into his Nth incarnation.

    Heck we don't know how new Immortals com into being.  (I mean completely new immortals not reincarnations)

    My speculation is that if an Immortal lives long enough without resetting, it will split into multiple new Immortals, and Pandora's multi-faced "Chaos" form is a sign that Pandora has begun this process. However, like so many other things, knowledge of this was probably lost or suppressed via reset-based memory loss.

    1 minute ago, Stevie-O said:

    Just to play the devil's advocate here...

    I'm wondering if that's not really Pandora, but Mr. Gaunt (Voltaire); we know immortals can impersonate living humans (Pandora has impersonated Wolf and Fox), so I see no reason why they wouldn't be allowed to impersonate each other.

    * V was the one who told Sirleck about Raven in the first place.

    * When we last saw Pandora here,  it looks like she was about to reincarnate.  When Jerry was preparing to go through the process, he said he'd be out of commission for a couple of weeks.  How long has it been since the night she visitedTed?

    In that comic, she says she'll stay as she is as long as she can in order to clean up her mess, and then she will reset; she hasn't cleaned up her mess yet, so why would she have started her reset? (Also, in answer to your last question, it's been less than 24 hours - Pandora met with Tedd very early Friday morning, and it's now Friday evening.)

  3. Posted

    I love the blurry horizontal lines in the background of panel 1. It reminds me of the effects in some old NES games (particularly the Mega Man & Ninja Gaiden series).

    It's also interesting there's just a glow behind Catalina in the final panel, instead of the usual starburst.

    In other words, yay for blurry background effects in panels 1 & 3!

    17 hours ago, hkmaly said:

    Wait ... why did Rhoda used animal-clothing card when she was standing on one-point square?

    She probably didn't have a 1-point card in her hand (either that or she really wanted to see Catalina as a St. Bernard). Also, apparently it's okay to overpay for your square.

  4. Posted

    I really like the effect Dan used when Raven transforms. ...Speaking of which...

    *clears throat*

    Yay for starbursts in panels four and seven! Yay for glowing transformation in panel six!

    16 hours ago, Scotty said:

    Well we know Pandora has gone by many names in her current life, but we don't know if any of them were used in her previous life. Some Immortals might embrace resets more thoroughly, sure they'd take whatever knowledge their previous self passes along, but they'd view a reset as a clean slate, which would need a new name for whatever new identity they want to create for themselves.

    Not saying it's always the case, but Jerry2.0's protests lean towards it.

    I thought for sure it was stated somewhere that Immortals always change their names when they reset. But maybe that's just accidental head canon on my part.

  6. Posted

    I just noticed the sunburst effect in the final panel. It's funny how these days I tend to "read" such effects without really taking note of them (not unlike how I rarely take note of individual letters). I guess that goes to show that Dan's use of effects usually isn't obtrusive.

    Anyway, yay for starburst background in panel six!

  7. Posted

    1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

    Actually, it seems Elliot was completely half-dog after one or two licks and what advanced then was only the girl part (also clothes keep changing, but not advancing). I mean, he didn't get more dog-like after that.

    It looks to me like Elliot made only two (long, slow) licks: one in panels 2 & 3, and one in 4 & 5. The first lick left him with dog ears, a female figure, skimpier clothing, and slightly lighter skin and hair. The second lick enhanced his figure, completed the transformation of his clothes into a bikini, gave him a tail, lengthened his hair, and changed his skin(fur?) and hair to an even lighter shade.

  9. Posted

    3 hours ago, animalia said:

    It has more to do with the fact that whenever I try to edit on this forum my past dialogue is all white and blends into the screen. Combined with having to use a touchscreen instead of a mouse and THAT is what makes it impossible. 

    Can you use the "source" button? I haven't gotten around to setting up the forum fixes, so that's what I tend to use when I'm editing a post.

    1 minute ago, The Old Hack said:

    Clearly they were secret wars. If comics are to be believed, these happen all the time. :danshiftyeyes:

    Well, they were in the "Eugenics Wars" books by Greg Cox.

  10. Posted

    39 minutes ago, animalia said:

    Speaking of Negima! the way people in the world reacted to each other may have changed but the PHYSICAL LAWS GOVERNING THE UNVERSE DID NOT CHANGE. This is why I say magic is an asshole. Imagine if everytim human kind got close to working out the rules of physics god changed how they worked.

    I don't remember where or if the person was being serious, but I've heard a theory (in the non-scientific sense of the word) that exactly that has happened in our world. Among other things, it would explain why we have legends of magic that doesn't seem to work these days, and why no matter how much physicists learn about the physical laws of the universe there always wind up being more unanswered questions.

  11. Posted

    4 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

    There is another possibility.

    These really could be the recorded memories of cross dimensional individuals with characteristics similar to (or edited to resemble) Ellen and Kaoli.  People who had their lives cut short because of some sort of accident, disaster, or tragedy about the time the recordings came to an end (from Ellen's point of view).

    Well, if we're going to have them be recorded memories, they might as we have been from alternates of Elliot and Nioi like Nioi and Dan said. I'm just trying to come up with an alternate scenario Dan could have gone with instead where the dreams were interactive.

  12. Posted

    It appears like each lick advances the transformation. The question is, does it stop when you reach the point Elliot is at? Or when you reach a more animal-like anthro-dog form? Or does it go all the way to full dog? This would be something important to know before trying to eat the whole thing.

    Speaking of which...

    9 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

    How many licks does it take to get to the center of Tedd's  "Cool Off And Be Hot" Pops?

    The world may never know.

  13. Posted

    Quote

    Sister 3, Part 22 - Apocalypse

    As in, Pandora's Apocalypse? Is this battle going to be so obvious and public that the world can no longer deny the existence of magic? This is going to be some crazy battle, then.

    When the idea of the Magic Reset was introduced, I figured it was just another threat for the heroes to fight against, and an excuse to keep the Masquerade going. However, I'm starting to think it might actually happen (and fairly soon, too). I'm a little surprised; Dan went through so much time and effort to explain the current magic system, it seems a little odd to throw it all away and start over.

    On the other hand, I'd love it if the Masquerade was done away with permanently. I really loved it early on in the comic when the characters were using magic (including ASMA tricks) in public and it seemed public knowledge that Tedd was a mad scientist; I was disappointed when the characters started taking the Masquerade seriously.

    4 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

    But regarding the troubling social commentary at the start of the comic, I never really understood the need for one adult to place the order for another healthy adult at the restaurant.  I understand the need to order for children.  And we needed to order for my mother as her dementia progressed.  But is the medical condition of "Female" really as debilitating as "Child" or "Incoherent"?

    Not to mention, I have had many meals ruined because the waiter messed up some detail of my order between the table and the kitchen.  I don't want to take the blame for ruining your meal because I messed up some detail at the table.

    In my experience, when people go out to eat as a group and one person is paying for the entire order, often times that person will place the order for everyone. The only reason I can think of is what Tuscohoma said, that it's easier for one person to deal with the waiter (though honestly I don't see how it makes that big of a difference).

    As for the date situation, there's probably also a bit of "Chivalry" involved - after all a "true gentleman" is supposed to do everything for the woman he's courting (and other women as well), even things she can easily do herself.

  14. Posted

    So I've come up with a few possible solutions; this is the one I like the best:

    The simulation could be run by a sentient "Game Master" (it could be an actual person or a magical construct, though I prefer the magical construct idea) who is a really good actor and is controlling all of the important NPCs like puppets. (The background NPCs could still by run by simple non-sentient AIs until & unless Ellen or Kaoli interacted with them.) When the simulation ends, the GM continues to exist, and can even later perform their role again in other simulations.

  15. Posted

    8 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

    Yes, but unlike me, you are made up for real.

    Actually I was exaggerating. I'm not completely made up, I'm just highly fictionalized.

    5 hours ago, hkmaly said:

    They would. Themselves and each other. They might not figure out specifically that it's simulation, but they would notice something is weird.

    And if the AI is convincing enough, how can you say it doesn't have soul? I mean, except looking directly of course, there is certainly spell for that.

    Hmm...I have to admit, I've never thought about this aspect of my idea in this much detail before.

    You have a point about Ellen and Kaoli being able to compare the AIs to themselves and each other.

    As for the question of souls, that depends on where souls come from, and how one acquires one. If anything with a certain level of sentience automatically receives a soul, the spell would have to thread a very thin line to produce convincing AIs that don't have souls - if it's even possible at all.

    Of course, the reason for having the other people in the simulation "soulless" was to avoid the moral issues involved in ending the simulation if the only difference between the NPCs and normal people is the level of "reality" of their world. I suspect there might be other ways around this problem; I'll have to think about it.

    The Old Hack reacted to this

  16. Posted

    7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

    Those comics being non-canon is just plausible deniability.

    grace_at_the_booth_by_danshive.jpg

    I've always wondered if Dan brought Grace to our world for that picture, or if that's Dan in his Grace form.

    7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

    Human memory is imperfect, but if you want to see how Earth looked 200 years ago, you only need to jump 200 light years in any direction and make photo. Of course, there would be practical problems with getting exact informations from past, but those problems would NOT be related to time travel and/or time paradoxes at all, as no matter travels through time and information only travels in "allowed" direction.

    Taking a photo of the Earth from 200 light years away would only tell you what it looked like 200 years ago (and even then it might be distorted by things as interstellar dust and the gravity of any planets or stars it passed close to), it wouldn't tell you what people were saying back then - or what they were thinking. To use a similar technique to copy memories would require that the mind gave off some sort of signal which will remain readable for years (a constant telepathic broadcast, perhaps?).

    7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

    I'm sure they would totally noticed very quickly, especially in case of Archie.

    That depends on how convincing the AIs were. Also, while Ellen might put two and two together in the real world, within the Second Life simulation she and Kaoli wouldn't have anything to compare the AIs to, so I think it would be pretty unlikely they'd figure it out inside the simulation .

    7 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

    Nonsense. Everything is real except me. I am just made up.

    Hey, not everything else is real! I'm made up too!

  17. Posted

    6 hours ago, Scotty said:

    Maybe it's similar to how Nanase can take possession of her fairy dolls, by sending her consciousness into it, a body snatcher could probably do the same to another person, but for body snatchers like Sirleck, their original body probably died long ago and their consciousness manifested into a new form.

    This made me think, back in Painted Black during the fight with Vlad Nanase used her fairy doll spell when she was falling to what she thought would be her death, in the hope she could live on in her Fairy Doll form. If things had worked out that way, I bet some Immortals would have mistaken Nanase for an aberration.

     

  18. Posted

    3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

    Why do you think it's silly?

    You do remember that guy who was translating old books into English ... what was his name ... oh, Tolkien. And the book was Red Book of Westmarch.

    Some stories are written with the conceit that they are non-fiction. (TVtropes calls it "Direct Line to Author".) This can be pretty fun in the hands of a skilled enough author (like Tolkein), though if not well thought out it can lead to plotholes (clearly no Yeerks ever read the Animorphs series, or they would have known they were dealing with human kids not Andalites, and probably could have figured out enough to track them down without their last names).

    The thing is, Dan does not seem to be employing Direct Line to Author; there's never been any talk of how the Dan of our universe received this information from another universe or anything along those lines.* Pretending that Dan did receive messages from another universe would thus be engaging in the "Literary Agent Hypothesis" (warning: another TVTropes link). There's nothing wrong with that, I just think modifying our theories on how universe travel works to take the Literary Agent Hypothesis into account would be a little on the silly side.

    (By the way, I should point out that I never said there was anything wrong with being silly.)

    * Well, unless you count the 4th wall breaking non-canon comics. Squirrel Dan and Minion apparently have devices which allow them to monitor and even alter universes, and Dan has occasionally implied that Squirrel Dan and Real World Dan are one and the same. Still as said comics are non-canon I don't think they count for "Direct Line to Author".

    3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

    Reading past is NOT time travel.

    In the real world, the only way we know to learn about the past is to study the world as it is now. Books, fossils, and the light from distant stars all exist in the present even if they contain information from the past. However, human memory is imperfect, and it's unlikely Nioi could have recorded the sort of vivid childhood memories Ellen experienced by simply copying adult SL-Ellen's memories. If Nioi didn't cast the spell to gather the information until SL-Ellen was an adult, then the spell would have had to reach into the past to gather the required information.

    So even if no physical objects traveled through time, the spell and the information it gathered did.

    3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

    It would make more sense, but note that you would need the "connecting universes" and also it would be sort of evil because what about the "original" SL Ellen when our universe Ellen would be directing?

    In my scenario of it all being a magical simulation, the only connection between universes that would be required would be between the main universe and the Alpha Universe, to allow Ellen and Kaoli to share the same illusionary "world". No one in that world would be real; SL-Ellen and SL-Kaoli would just be our Ellen's and Alpha Kaoli's avatars in that world, and everyone else would be soul-less magical AIs. It would be just like playing a video game, except that while "playing" it Ellen and Kaoli wouldn't remember that it wasn't real.

  20. Posted

    3 minutes ago, mlooney said:

    Saying something is weird in the description is weird, just off the top of my head.  The text with the comic should go in designer notes, not in the rules. Explaining about better game play is fluff, not crunch and should not be in the crunch.

    Well, you wouldn't normally see that sort of thing in an official, professionally made rule-book, but (a) this isn't the rule book, it's just Hanma breaking the fourth wall to clarify some points, and (b) Hanma has a rather informal, conversational style of explaining things.

  21. Posted

    2 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

    It's new to people here. You don't have to sit on it for that reason! ^_^

    It came up several times back in the old days, so I wasn't sure if it was worth repeating...  But if you think it's a good idea, I'll run through it again...

    Nioi says that the main reason for the Second Life dreams is to age Ellen & Kaoli's souls. If Second Life was a magical simulation with compressed time, one in which they possessed free will and the ability to affect the outcome, Ellen and Kaoli really would be effectively living out a second life in their dreams, and it would make sense that the experience would age their souls. However, if it's simply a recorded memory they're passively watching, why does it age them when the memories they inherited from Elliot and Nioi apparently don't?

    Furthermore, the second reason for including Ellen in the Second Life dreams was so Kaoli would have someone to share them with. Well, I suppose it gives them another thing to talk about when they eventually meet (though I wonder how much time they'll have to chat seeing as it'll probably be part of the big final conflict with General Shade Tail and Lord Tedd) but as it stands it's not all that different from knowing that someone else watched the same movie as you; main Ellen and Alpha Kaoli don't even know anything about each other besides what little Nioi passed on. It would have created a much more meaningful connection between the two of them if they had both been living within the same world, their real-life selves influencing their decisions.  

    Finally, I really hope Nioi got SL Ellen & Kaoli's permission before copying their memories/lives, as if not that was a huge invasion of privacy. Of course given that Nioi didn't think it was necessary to get Ellen's informed consent before dumping over a decade of someone else's memories into Ellen's head (Nioi sort of asked for permission, but was so vague Ellen had no idea what she was agreeing to, which does not count as informed consent) I'm not all that confident Nioi got proper permission before copying the memories either...

    The Old Hack, Drasvin and hkmaly reacted to this

  22. Posted

    6 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

    I think I get the movement idea.  But the rule details seem excessively complex.

    3 hours ago, mlooney said:

    While I don't do board game design, the reverse direction explanation is a bit weird.  I like the concept but the expression of the mechanic is a bit strange.

    Really? It makes perfect sense to me (but then I've been known to explain things in an overly complex manner myself). Out of curiosity, can you elaborate on what you find "complex"/"strange" about the rules / their description?

     

  24. Posted

    Kind of funny to think that Ellen was once intended to be a villain by Dan, and even made a very poor attempt at it in Sister 1. She sure looks the part now (even if it's Sirleck at the helm).

    10 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

    Does Magus really believe Sirleck stuck to the plan to minimize darnage?

    Is Magus really that naïve?  Is he really that desperate that he'll believe anything?

    Or is he deliberately ignoring the fact that he is working with a body snatching vampire without any human empathy or morals?

    My first guess is that out of desperation and for the sake of his conscience he's fooling himself into thinking Sirlek is trustworthy (if not exactly a good guy).

    Of course, just being that nieve wouldn't be out of character for Elliot, and Magus is an alternate of Elliot, so perhaps he shares that trait...

    4 hours ago, WR...S said:

    Hmm... the language used in this strip does seem to suggest Ellen ought to be dead, but Magus clearly doesn't think so...

    Francine survived being possessed by Sirlek, so clearly said possession isn't automatically fatal. (Perhaps he slowly drains his victim's life energy (or whatever it is Aberrations consume) over the course of years?)

  25. Posted

    12 hours ago, hkmaly said:

    Not entirely. Dan shown multiple times it is possible to establish unidirectional communication link between universes to earlier moment (it's called flashback). But obviously, it is impossible for bidirectional links and there must be some rule for combinations of unidirectional links ...

    First of all, "flashbacks" are a storytelling device, they have nothing to do with information transfer between universes (unless you count our universe as part of the equation, which is a little silly).

    Secondly, other than Second Life, have we ever seen a one-way transfer of information between in-comic universes?

    Admittedly, how Nioi got the Second Life memories is a bit of a puzzle. Presumably magic, but how did the magic do it? It might have simply copied SL Ellen and Kaoli's memories from their brains, but then why were the early memories so vivid? The only options I can think of are if the spell connected to the SL universe (and probably SL Kaoli & Ellen's minds) when SL Kaoli was a child then followed the universe forward in time at an accelerated rate, or if the spell can read the past of a selected individual. The first option would violate the "universes must travel at the same speed while connected" part of the Don Edwards suggested, though I think that so long as the rest of the rules were adhered to it could still work. The second is rather close to being a form of time travel, but as the information transfer is only forwards in time there still wouldn't be a risk of history alteration (which is Dan's reason for not allowing time travel in EGS).

    (Incidentally, I really wish SL had been an interactive simulation, not a set of memories. It would have made a lot more sense that way, both for the purpose of "aging" Ellen's soul and regarding the question of how the memories got from SL Ellen to main-universe Ellen. But that's an old rant.)