Darth Fluffy

... Panel 7, Elliot spots a bar while walking, though bubble shows, "I need something to calm down." Panel 8, Elliot's hand holding a shot glass full of liquid. Panel 9, Elliot tossing back shot, flames shooting out of mouth as shot ignites. Panel 10, Elliot's face, mild consternation, thought bubble shows, "Well, damn."

You make a good point, she thought she was going to die soon. I would take issue with, you don't have to be skilled at being crazy to be crazy.

And the message of the NP arc says that if Ashley hasn't tried smoking, she should try it before she criticizes.

That's it, I'm shipping Liz and Elliot.

It does not look like Bridgette got cured of her well intentioned naive optimism.

It does not look like Bridgette got cured of her well intentioned naive optimism.

It does not look like Bridgette got cured of her well intentioned naive optimism.

Third (and beyond) options, hmm? You could be a cryogenically frozen corpsesicle, and hope for medical advances to revive you (in the loosest sense of "hope", since you won't be aware ...) Tends to not end well in fiction, but who knows? Being able to be uploaded on to new hardware is a hypothetical goal just beyond the horizon of our present wherewithal. Not sure if you'd still be you, or if that even has meaning. Even now, are you still you a decade or two later? I know I have some very different views than I did in the 1990s. Then there's the rumored afterlives or sequential reincarnations. I guess that's technically not an alternative, but it kind of feels like one in context. Then there's the vague sense in which you continue through your contribution to the species consensus, the meme space. Granted, few of us will write the next Gettysburg Address, but we all contribute something. I've managed to warp several children through my parenting, and here, at least, we all post to this forum. And the great news is, you won't be bothered by how lame it is when it becomes relevant. Actually, these third options make growing older look pretty good, what a drag though it may be.

Not exactly relevant, because yeah, it seems you're right, "cousin" being a "close relative (therefore off limits)" is a cultural thing, and is not universally frowned upon; some cultures prefer it. The genetic hazard is about double two strangers, still low numbers, around two and four per cent respectively, no where near like two sibs. But repeated generational cousin marriage is another thing, check European royalty.

It was an unexpected question, so I reflected, and thought about it in depth. The problem with orbital speed is that they orbit. You need to change that speed, which means, launch them. Time considerations and aiming requirements say that while you could perhaps launch a projectile from orbit with a parachute, it would take too long, and you'd best just chuck that sucker. The Buff is a US only plane, pretty sure we don't sell them; granted, there are rough equivalents, like the Bear, and the technology is no longer beyond anyone. I don't think the US is actively fielding bio nor chemical weapons today. I admit, I could be wrong. The types of nukes we are talking about are sufficiently heavy that they require a large airframe. However, lighter options are used in many missles. Bio and toxic weapons would not be heavy, if you are willing to use them, you want to use a lot of smaller amounts and disperse them. Typical delivery would be either via missles or covert operatives. In a shooting war, restraint goes out the window, and bets are off. However, anyone that hasn't prepped is probably unable to play. ... too busy answering forums to get anything done. Where do you live? I want to avoid visiting. Do you have sirens, like Magus's universe? Even on the box cover art, it was meant to be more humorous than instructive. There is a form of really high SPF sunscreen available, however, it's called "Indoors". For nuclear war, you may want to use something stronger. Seems like overkill. I was referring to "Why don't vampires use the high SPF lotion from the box art to walk around in the daylight." But, yeah, indoors. So, if they are underground, in the dark, how do they know to be dead during the day to rise at night? Isn't it all the same to them?

Feh, like Ellen would know. She's lived in another universe, everyone is a relative stick in the mud compared to her. Seriously, though, Elliot has befriended people on his own, mostly while standing up for them. Ellen just has a more selfish approach to the same thing. It's not so much "wrong" as she knows herself better. She was dysfunctional to the point of being mentally ill when she was first created. "Stick in the mud" also says "stable". Back to Elliot and Sarah have different goals in life, and don't really know each other at some level. Sarah may think "stick in the mud", and I'm pretty sure she's going to come across as "flighty" to some folks. Every card's a winner, and every card's a looser. (Yes, I know the actual lyrics are "Every hand's a winner, and every hand's a looser", but that's simply not true; it is true for the cards themselves.) I went to one high school reunion, and was amazed how many of my classmates never left our town, or "Yeah, I left, I live thirty miles away now."

MythBusters: Plausible

Panel 3 shows Sarah drawing the boinking conclusion, then panel 4 and beyond subverts it.

Counterpoint.

Huh, yeah, you're right. Still not conclusive that they weren't just cuddling. I'll grant that for most couples, it would be a strong indication. I don't see them fitting the mold. Grace isn't phased when Tedd is female. For everyone else, the sex changing is a big deal, at least initially. She also isn't aware of how her male form affects him, at first, which kind of says that the sexual aspect did not cross her mind. Besides, if squirrel form Grace decided to bury his nuts for the winter, he'd be in a world of hurt.

I did not get the impression he was overthinking so much as apathetic, "I can get a burger anywhere". I can relate to that. I am far less picky about where we eat lunch that my coworkers are. I can find something I'll like on anyone's menu. I'll usually state a general preference, or a negative, "I had Mexican yesterday", maybe lay out three different alternatives, mention time constraints, "I have a meeting at 1:00", then go along with the group consensus. Maybe oddly, a burger is something I'll tend to avoid. I used to love them, but they don't love me back.

The issue with Elliot and all the prior guys she's dated and Nanase was Nanase's inability to resolve her mother's expectations with how she was feeling. Put simply, she was in denial. (It's a big river, lots of people swim in it.) You could make a good case for, she's quite attracted to Elliot, other than his male form, hence ends up with Ellen, who is her own person, but is also female Elliot. Nanase comes across initially as being ill planned, sprouting plot features as they develop. Some pieces don't fit all that well. You would think it would be common knowledge to Elliot's other close friends that he was dating, but neither Tedd nor Sarah knew he was dating Nanase. There could be reasons, but I think Dan didn't think about it until he decided to make her more a part of the plot. The fact that she is Tedd's cousin but nobody else knows that is a bit weird as well, you'd think they'd have met her in some context. I can see the families not being close, but Nanase's mother is protective of Tedd, that seems like it would have made periodic visits a thing. Allowing that either is a retcon, I don't think Elliot kept their relationship secret as much as it might not have occurred to him to mention it. It might have been mostly something they did in the context of their martial arts training, given that they don't live close, neither drives yet, I think it's Elliot's first relationship, and they may be subtly aware that they have some deep barriers. Nanase "tries" to be attracted to him, (whatever that means) but is at least somewhat aware of the lack of attraction; Elliot probably gets at least a hint of that. I really don't get why she's "Ugly cousin" to Tedd. Indications are, she was sympathetic when they were kids. My point with Elliot's ex's is that he is generally attractive, even before Ashley; Sarah is an exception, and she's not entirely unattracted.

We've seen her kiss Tedd numerous times, we've also seen her frustrated by a lack of romance, heck even in this comic, the last panel has her moving in for a kiss. And lets not forget the vagueness of what happens after this page, and hinted at in this page, ... Cuddling, cuddling, cuddling, and Grace has no problem with nudity so that is not indicative, Tedd is clothed panels 1, 4, and 5 where he appears, and Grace is squicked when she finds out why everybody else has issues with nudity. Yes, I'd agree; not just the art has evolved.

He seems more immature than the others, but I get your point, he's not far from the pack. They all have some issues, otherwise the comic would not be interesting. They actually do love each other, just not as a couple, although Sarah has jealous moments. Which would be an indication they'd be a bad match. Elliot actually pointed that out to Tedd. Grace in particular seems kind of ace, she's said things and had reactions that indicate she just likes to cuddle. In spite of Tedd's initial vocal perversion in the early comics, he might be OK with that. They do seem alike a couple that is well suited to each other. I would say their love for each other is well demonstrated. But by that standard, Ashley's been brave and sacrificial toward Elliot, and that's kind of Elliot's core as well. As a couple, Nanase and Ellen have made room for each other in their lives, they do things together, and they've known each other for a while. Elliot and Ashley aren't there yet. Rhoda and Catalina seem particularly well suited. I credit Catalina for bringing Rhoda out of her shell. I'm sure they re confident in shared affection, even if they haven't been vocal about it. (not saying they haven't, we don't know.) Lucy and Diane were pretty clear, once they started talking, even if they didn't use the actual word. My take on them is once they realized how they felt, they dove right in. Luke is hiding too much from Justin for this to work. If Luke wants it to work, he's going to have to come clean. Camden seems to be a factor, he wants something tangential to Luke and Justin's plot line, and it is messing with Luke. In his little face time he seems like he's manipulating Luke through Luke's codependency. Better to figure it out sooner than later. Sam needs to be honest, lack thereof dooming the relationship. Sarah will be OK, and so will Sam, but maybe not with each other. But if he persists on hiding his feelings, she will feel betrayed. He's asking good questions, those aren't the problem. Well, maybe the wording of the first one. "What restaurant would we both enjoy?" would be a healthier question. But considering her needs and her feelings is not a bad thing. He's also not generally bad about taking initiative, in spite of Sarah's experience; their relationship is a bit of an anomaly. He does have weak areas, like failing to keep up with his spell book. But sometimes he shows really good initiative, especially when he's being protective. So, my impression is that at some level, he does not really know Sarah. Their discussion of travel highlighted very different goals; maybe they find each other unrelatable. Food choices much the same. His indecision around Sarah may be the tip of a deep iceberg. Noteworthy, he actually had good chemistry with Susan, several people commented on it or assumed they were a couple because of it; he even got Susan to consider it, which is really out of her comfort zone. Though it didn't get much focus, he seemed to have a pretty good relationship with Nanase, as far as it went. It was a factor in Ellen's interest in Nanase, and maybe visa versa. And he's still friends with these girls, that says a lot.

Actually, writing ™ is not enough. You also need to register the name and pay for it. And actively use it. You can register a trademark, and it is more defensible if you do, but it is not required, at least not in the US. You are correct that it has to be in use. Whether it would be defensible elsewhere, eh, each country has their own laws, there is some reciprocity, I think the EU does that for each other, but I would not expect to be able to defend the name outside of the US even if I registered it, if that is all I did. The alliterative name was a happy accident from the circumstances of their dates, and the rest was tongue in cheek, but I'm not above using it, should the situation arise. Anyway, Luncheons and Flagons is a better name.

As my answer depended on the question being asked, I cannot logically disagree with that. Well yeah, if you have the energy and platform to hurl rocks from space, that's a game changer. The vulnerability of the B-52 was key to the story. You don't get that with rocks from space. Biological and toxic weapons would be more difficult to detect, different story, really. This really required a big boom from a vulnerable craft. Magic could go either way, I suppose. Sshh, the dragon might hear you. You don't want him trying to prove the point. They would need a really high SPF. (You can't read it in the picture, but the bottle of sunscreen in the box art for Nuclear War is SPF-5000 ). (Why can't they just do that all the time?)

OK, one of these breeds might work.

When my kids were little, I made green eggs and ham for them one year, and of course recited the book (IIRC, I did it from memory). The ham barely took the food dye, and was only slightly tinted, but the egg whites took it well, came out nicely green. Not quite on spot, but some chickens do lay green eggs, ..., green shelled eggs, that is.

... why? You want cat hairs in your pizza?

Huh, there apparently was a third date. I had to look that up. One page of invite and one panel of recap. Everything happened off-screen, and it appears that neither party was thrilled. I guess Griffins and Golems (tm)* are tough acts to follow. So, I'll double down on, "You're not ready to be using the L word." (Why am I thinking of Scott Pilgrim?) Dan is planning big for this party. Smart money says it's going to go well, that's the EGS way, but he could really throw a curve ball here, if he wanted to. * So I have a name for my fantasy RPG if I ever get around to writing one.