chridd

So watermelon is 64? My guess is Tedd. While magic is preparing to go mainstream, I'm not sure if everyone's ready for it to go mainstream yet... remember, Tedd still has to work out how to increase defenses. ...so there still could potentially be an issue about whether to reveal magic to Sam (someone who they just met and who, as far as we know, doesn't yet know any more about magic than anyone else watching the news). It also seems possible that Tedd having just learned of her gender identity and not yet being used to the concept might cause some awkwardness. Tedd is also part of the ship-tease threesome with Sarah; on the other hand, I can't remember Tedd expressing interest in this, so if that was the source of awkwardness it'd probably be Grace. This is mostly just speculation, though. (On the other hand, it's possible that the "other" and "haven't seen mentioned" parts mean it's referring to someone besides the obvious Tedd, Grace, Elliot, Sarah, and Sam, rather than just someone other than Sarah and Sam. Is there anyone less obvious who might be put into an awkward situation by this?)

I'm wondering if I'm the only one who thought that looked like Grace at first...

The illusion you're using to look super-old seems to be working just fine, though assuming you look like your avatar.

Maybe this will get addressed during the actual story (either before the storyline ends, or later), but did Elliot and Magus get spells from the diamond the way Elliot and Ellen did when they used it the first time? If so, how would the spells work? Would Magus be able to possess other people and Elliot be able to somehow channel Magus or something, or would it be purely physical transformation, or physical + personality (like the secret identity forms).

Remember also, wizards learn other people's spells after they awaken, which means that there may be lots of wizards who don't know they're wizards because they haven't awakened (and probably some never awaken, and probably some aren't even aware of magic). In addition to possibly talking about an older system's "wizard", it's possible that the wand is simply wrong (mistaken or lying), or that the wand is using the non-technical meaning (anyone who does magic), or there was a change in terminology that didn't correspond to a change in magic.

Well, looking at the commentary, there goes my prediction that sex-change transformation isn't universally accepted in his universe. My alternate prediction is that there are people fighting against gender norms in his universe, and some/most/many of them see sex-change transformation in general as a problem and are opposed to it in general—roughly the equivalent of TERFs. Probably not necessary, but my counter to Magus's argument (besides the obvious 'he should ask her and not just transform her'): He's assuming that she cares about having a male form (and that her gender identity is male) because Elliot went out of the way to untransform himself; but that only shows that he desired to untransform himself at that time, and doesn't prove that it's due to gender identity reasons. My suspicion for a while has been that Elliot's desire not to have female forms is entirely for reasons unrelated to gender identity (in particular, magic secrecy, inconvenience, the fear of what others will think about it, and the fact that it's just not something he cares about), and therefore is something that can change (and of course has started to change).

Uh, that's exactly what I was saying in the next part of my sentence.

My interpretation was that all uryuom parents = uryuom, all non-uryuom parents = lesser chimera, any other combination = greater chimera. It's still possible, though, that those with more uryuom DNA would be more uryuom-like chimeras. The explanation says "multiple DNA sources", which would seem to me to suggest that if there were two or more parents at all, even both uryuom, the result would be a seyunolu; if we interpret this as multiple species, it would make more sense, and we'd get the way I originally interpreted it; either way, it says nothing about majorities mattering and nothing suggests they're only talking about cases where there are two parents (and remember, at least Grace and Vlad both had more than two parents). This also suggests that an uryuom egg with only human parents might not be a chimera at all.

My predictions: Magus's motives: • Magus is transgender; he'd prefer a male form even without the battle mage thing. (His "It's part of who I am" kind of suggests that; it would also explain why he thinks our Ellen should be male, if he assumes gender identity is the same across universes (which it probably isn't).) • Switching sexes isn't fully accepted in his universe; there are people who are opposed to sex-change magic in general, who he feels he has to justify himself to. • His justification, his rationalization, to those people is that it makes him stronger, and that battle mages should be men, so he sees challenges to the idea that people should choose a male form to become stronger as challenges to the idea that he should have a male form. • Terra might be a cis woman, or might be a trans woman; either way could work. Magus is basically this person. I also predict that Magus is going to be a villain in the short term, but he's misguided rather than evil and so eventually he'll see the error of his ways. More like Abraham, and less like Damien, Tengu, or an aberration. He might go on a transformation spree first, though, which would put him at odds with the government, who probably still wants magic to be kept somewhat secret until Tedd can figure out a way to increase magic resistance, and/or with anyone who knows about magic secrecy but not about the change in magic. His magic might also be the ticking-clock type of enchantment.

Not quite something I noticed on reread, but something I realized while I was thinking about the comic earlier today: When Mr. Raven said that Abraham should have paid someone more skilled to cure the werewolf's curse, Mr. Raven himself is one possible person Abraham could have paid, since he has a talent for disenchantment.

I guess this might be my last chance to share my speculation on why this storyline is "Ellens and Elliots", both plural: Perhaps Elliot is under two "curses", the Magus possession and Ellen's FV5, and touching the diamond will result in a new being for each "curse" (maybe even a third for the combined form?). (Elliot doesn't look like he's FV5'd, but Magus's possession could act like a clone form and have a higher priority than FV5, or maybe Magus applied yet a third enchantment to give himself a male form again.) (Also I can think of multiple other possibilities...)

At that point she doesn't remember the part about the specific immortal, and the way she words in on the next page implies that she thinks Pandora is the only one (at least, involved in those specific marks). That said, she's dealing with vaguely-remembered dreams, so in any case she might not have remembered properly. Would the emissary have told her about marks that weren't made by Pandora? He/Magic seems to be specifically thinking that Pandora is a threat, and therefore would likely be only talking about Pandora's marks; on the other hand, he might have said something about a mark that wasn't made by Pandora just as a way to help Grace remember, or the Will of Magic might not have accurate information on who made each mark.

You know what I just realized? They're going back to the place with the diamond. If all goes according to plan (which obviously it might not), then they're going to have to find their way home again. Elliot and Ellen probably still don't know the way back, and they might have to ask for directions or something, maybe from a gas station attendant on the way. In other words, there's a chance we might actually see Phill again.

Does Mr. Raven know it was Ellen who was created by the dewitching diamond, and did he know/suspect that she was made by the diamond before Abraham attacked? (I'm sure there are probably more questions that I'll think of later...)

Also, the closet in that note could apply to Tedd being genderfluid, not just to Nanase being a lesbian. ...I guess Tedd was in the closet to most people at that point? Wait... http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=277 http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=280 so Elliot didn't even get only one brownie.

He should switch rooms each time; then he'll have a better chance of winning a car to get out.

Wabbit Season!

Three people of different ethnicities walk into a bar. They forget how exactly the joke is supposed to go, and realize that it's racist, and ...hey, is that some sort of demonic duck?

...but on the other hand, Magus isn't casting a spell directly himself; he's using some sort of item, which I've speculated for a while meant that perhaps Magus is similar to our universe's Tedd in that he can't cast spells directly. What this means, I don't know; it could be that Magus is Tedd's alternate; it could be that in that universe, someone else became a seer instead; or it could mean that things are reversed such that alternates of seers are the only ones who can cast spells directly in that universe.

...so you're saying the Demonic Duck is a witch?

Directly below where it says "Forums Staff Online Users", between that and "Announcements". It's white on almost white, and small. Or resize your window to be small enough to trigger the mobile layout.

So, like Remora from Safe Havens (though she sleeps in a fish tank, not a swimming pool)?

Greg is definitely either dreaming or awakened—remember, dreaming is anyone who has magic without having awakened, not just people with magic marks. (We don't know which; but then again, anyone on the "Dreaming" list could potentially have awakened since we last saw them, so Greg could go there as well.) Given that definition, Grace (and her siblings and any other uryuom/seyunolu) would also technically be dreaming, though I don't think there's been any official answer to whether the term actually applies there (also come to think of it wouldn't that also include people using wands?). Noah being awakened has been hinted at, but I don't think it's ever been confirmed. Carol seems like too much of a stretch; it took a while to even see what you were suggesting was evidence... I don't think we know about any special magic potential for Ashley—what Pandora was detecting was related to yearning and personality, not anything specific to magic. While we don't know if Mrs. Kitsune is a wizard, we do know that she has some potential, so she could still go on that list. I don't think anything's been confirmed about Akiko, though—it's likely given everything else, but nothing's been said explicitly. Mr. Raven is (presumably) awakened and doesn't have a job involving magic. Edit to add: Oh! And Tedd should definitely be on the "Dreaming" list—not only does she have seer powers, but she also has a magic mark.

I guessed last year that Tedd resisted the wand (among many other guesses)! Do I get a cookie?

Does it say anywhere that the glove has any electronics? It probably has some material with magical properties, or has been enchanted, or something, which could easily have been known about before electronics came into existence. Didn't the term "smartphone" used to include flip phones (as opposed to, say, those that only could call and maybe store a few numbers), or am I misremembering?