Ser Pentrose

Fun fact : There was a african (black) dynasty of Roman Emperors. 
Though I always figured justifying the Genocidal actions taken against "the Savages" (Native Americans) was another large part of the creation of Racism. It does seem like it really comes about when Europe started conquering the rest of the world, as a justification for their conquest and subjugation of all those non european countries (and Ireland). 

But H5N1 is still Influenza, which isn't new. Nor does what emerges from the box have to remain static once its out. When we talk about gender identity, it is quite an old topic (many cultures do have some language that dates back far enough to demonstrate this). Western culture being forced to acknowledge it? That's a new thing. Previously, it was just erased as mental illness if acknowledged at all. Hell, we're still seeing society defend reparative therapy in the last few months for trans people. 
And again, you take what was meant to be colorful language, and are focusing on the more literal details of the analogy. That's what I take issue with, since it isn't really relevant to the point I was trying to make. Do I expect the language to become fixed? No, but I do expect it to settle down to something manageable at some point. But that takes exploration, which takes time. And in the US anyhow, we're only now deciding to actually explore, question and learn. 

This is true and also very important. One thing I find helpful to remember: if someone comes at me angry about something I said, however innocent my intent, they may well have cause. In that case my first priority must be to find out what it was I did wrong so I won't repeat it. And one cannot always expect people to behave reasonably when one has hurt them. In the best cases I've been able to work out what I did wrong and at the same time conveyed my apologies. That often goes a long way towards better communication afterwards.
Another point to remember: it is not often helpful to tell someone not to be angry. If they are actually communicating in good faith, they will be angry for cause and in that case the solution is to discover what caused the anger and hopefully alleviate it. If they are not communicating in good faith -- this is unfortunately also possible -- no appeal to their better nature will work in any event. And most importantly of all, there are those who simply use anger as an excuse to dismiss the angry person's argument. This is a much-loved tactic of those who wish to silence victims of (for example) misogyny, homophobia, transphobia and racism. It is called tone policing and works like this: if you are angry, your argument is invalid, if you are not angry, you have no reason to complain.
The above is the ideal and unfortunately I cannot always live up to it. For one thing, I have a temper of my own and I cannot always control it. But for exactly that reason I try to remember that the anger of the other person may very well be valid and should be respected.

I have elected to simplify. I choose to refer to each individual as they prefer and to otherwise avoid employing offensive terms as I am best able. That is the best I can do; if this stance makes me enemies, I regret that but I do not know a better place to work from.

I'd say that some people are more strongly gendered than others. I'd bet the Elliot was never strongly gendered, which made adapting to his magic easier than it would have been if he were.

I'd say that some people are more strongly gendered than others. I'd bet the Elliot was never strongly gendered, which made adapting to his magic easier than it would have been if he were.

Yikes!  I hadn't heard that detail before.  I now have a mental image of Thom valiantly trying to stop the server from crashing to the floor with his own body, and it makes me want to award him a virtual purple heart for taking the hit(s)!

... well, you can roleplay a seer that way

Incidentally, the MMO The Old Republic from Bioware does it differently. While the Empire on the surface consists of bad guys and the Republic of good guys, the choices in the missions consist of Light Side/Dark Side choices for yourself. Just as there are some surprisingly decent people in the Empire, there are also some truly rotten apples in the Republic. Ultimately, the choice of Good or Evil rests with the player, not the faction.

Also, being willing to admit that your own judgement is not flawless is a good thing--those who think themselves perfect allow themselves no room for improvement.

more of a cramped metal shell stuck on the top of a flying metal tower that breaks to pieces as it flies.

I haven't even played this game and I already hate these guys. His character design and behaviour is hilarious though.
It's telling that Grace is far more reticent greeting these people then she was greeting the escaped convict or even her own assailant. No cheerful "hello" here.
All the slavery, patriarchy and sheer violence is why I'm always a bit sceptical when people unreservedly praise the ancient world as some kind of pinnacle of civilization. Sure, they produced philosophy and literature that is still relevant today, but in many aspects they were no better than the "barbarians" they opposed.

It goes back to Tedd's theory that if Elliot wants non-girly spells, he has to like the girly spells he has first. So basically we've just seen the moment that Elliot truly loves being Cheerleadra, and his book seems to have noticed this so it's not unlikely that he's finally got a non-girly spell. It's probably a good sign that he wasn't forced to change into a male Cheerleadra so that should mean the female superhero spell is still intact, it might have been updated to allow Elliot to chose what gender he wants to be though. I think there would be riots if it turned out Elliot could only use a male superhero form from now on, with Elliot leading the pack.

Yes, the Nanase doll tucked in Elliot's waistband is cute!
Talking back to the voice in your head is often a sign of madness . . .
Anyway, I like the poses in the 4th and 6th panels. Elliot is indeed owning the Cheerleadra form and identity.
Also, Elliot has confirmed here that the Cheerleadra form has super strength. Not "more powerful than a locomotive", but definitely strength that is implausible for a human--stronger than non-Guardian Nanase, likely stronger than Greg, and possibly able to lift an automobile overhead.
Considering the number of people who want to change their bodies' apparent sex in spite of being made social outcasts for doing so (hundreds of thousands in America alone), I would expect that easily ten times as many (or more) would do so if it were reversible, safe, and not a source of social rejection. Everybody has had at least idle curiosity about how "the other half" lives, even if they don't want to transform on a permanent basis.

It's the sound of the spellbook downloading the new spell from the aether.

Oh dear, EGS reads like a slice of life magical teens story and not a Rob Liefeld comic! What shall we do.
Wait a minute. If I actually felt this was a problem, I would be reading Rob Liefeld instead.

If I had a spellbook, I'd want it to have "Don't Panic" in large, friendly letters on the cover...

Actually that is just the short form of the title. The full title is "A Perfectly Normal Book And Not A Spellbook Full Of Profoundly Personal Magical Formulae That In Many Ways Reflect The Personality Of Its Owner."

He'll number the spaces the charts could be in, move each chart to the space with the number 2X the number of its pre-move space, and have an infinite number of odd-numbered spaces left vacant for more charts.

We've had this discussion about whether or not the TFG can be used to cure cancer or other genetic issues. The only evidence in favour of this goes back to when Elliot was trying to convince Justin that getting zapped was safe, saying that studies showed that it increased longevity (as well as doing wonders for the sinuses). One would assume that part of increasing longevity would involve repairing damaged or cancerous cells.

and then two years from now our time when Tara and Andrea make another appearance, it's discovered that Phil was the one who caused the clog in the first place! 
...By spraying grafiti in his teen years, which unintentionally wound up in the shape of a magic seal, that Edward and his people have been maintaining ever since thinking it was there for a good reason and sealing away something important/dangerous.

Possibly transmutation of lead into gold. In the late Mr. Pratchett's masterpieces, this was one of the primary objectives of Ankh-Morpork's alchemists. Unfortunately, the only process they mastered with any degree of consistency was the art of turning gold into less gold.

I still don't agree. That would be the act of a man seeking to blame someone else for his own actions, fully along the lines of "The Devil made me do it", and I have a far higher opinion of Mr. Verres than that. If anyone knows the power of Mr. Verres' temper, it is Mr. Verres himself. I think he has enough self-honesty to not do that.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

-- C.S. Lewis