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NP Comic for Tuesday, Dec 5, 2023 "Math, and math alone, is to blame." - That is obviously true; why make mention of it today? Reading way too much into this, Nanase just noticed that she looks good to herself, but does not want her own thoughts to go there. Why had she never noticed this before?

NP Comic for Saturday, Dec 2, 2023 The second panel is odd. Probably just dramatic, but it looks like the 'new' version of Nanase is having issues becoming substantial, starting to fade away. The white flame background seems to support this. Probably just stylistic choices, not foreshadowing Nanase evaporating. Just in case, I have a song prepared. "Na na na se, Na na na se, Hey, hey, Goodbye!" Ellen: "Tedd! What did you do to my girlfriend?" Tedd: "It wasn't me! Honest!"

NP Comic for Thursday, Nov 30, 2023 Overly complicated mumbo and jumbo. Ashley then psychs herself out.

NP Comic for Tuesday, Nov 28, 2023 . . . also, I think you can do a trade where you fold your own laundry, and reduce your casting costs entirely, but where's the fun in that? Kevin has a speaking role in this comic. Pretty impressive, for a stick.

https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/fox-031 Does Tedd realize that most academic research papers are not written in the form of video game reviews?

Sketchbook Comic for Thursday, Nov 23, 2023 Magic change dysfunction leads to mayhem with fairy doll spell. This could be canon, nothing seems to contradict what we know so far. I guess we'll see if difficulties with fairy doll spell becomes a thing in the main comic. The being partially disrobed in the process seems especially inconvenient.

NP Comic for Saturday, Nov 18, 2023 Crazy like a fox. "You know she's a little bit dangerous . . ."

https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/fox-030 Will you pet Fox? For SCIENCE!?

NP Comic for Tuesday, Oct 31, 2023 Hmm. In either the before the change or after the change magic, Kevin makes no sense. What exactly is he? Physically, he is a stick, painted like a traditional stage wand. This makes a little sense, because as a seer, Arthur is a 'wand maker'. But Tedd has long since demonstrated that wands don't have to actually be stick shaped. He does not duplicate the function of 'normal' wands, he is not enabling the caster to use himself to cast a spell via the magical energy he stores. A normal wand would have to be a recording of the spell it can cast, so that's not unlike Kevin, but Kevin has much more knowledge than a specific spell, and can reason about them. This is not wand-like. He's more like a spell book, albeit an open ended one that is not about specific spells. Like if you took spellbook-like knowledge and made a pod cast about it. But even then, not a scripted podcast, more like segments a responsive program that would show short training segments to address specific queries, and even beyond that, incorporated an AI that assesses need and selects the segments. All without having much of a clue about polity and social interaction. And then, he has odd capabilities, like speaking. Why and how? There are alternatives to speaking, he could be telepathic maybe, or create a text display in the air, or have a readout on the side. But clearly, he is speaking and several people hear him at once. He has no apparent sound interaction hardware. Yet he speaks and hears. If this is trivial to do in the EGS universe, why don't all wands have an instructional feature to tell people what they are for and how to operate them? He can't see the video game being played, but he is aware of people and where they are. He has almost no social sense, but he 'tilts himself politely'. Where did he get that notion? And he hovers. That seems like a powerful feature, the kind of thing you'd want to build into lots of stuff, yet we haven't seen many magic items that hover. We've seen people hover, but will was involved. Kevin essentially has no will of his own, other than his teaching purpose; he 'sleeps' when he's not teaching. So why does he hover? It seems that it would use a lot of magic power to do so. It would shorten his useful life if he is using stored power. Is he dependent on ambient magic energy? Is he vampyric? Can Ashley even power him, if he is? Presumably, he is a wand because Arthur is a wand maker, but he has more in common with a spell book than a wand, and he is ambulatory like a golem. He should have been some other kind of object: Teddy bear Brass frog (I'd say a Barbie style doll, but that's too much like the fairy dolls, would be confusing in the comic) A magician doll with a top hat A cell phone app A vinyl record you have to play, but the audio is responsive like Kevin, and the record keeps spinning and does not end until your session is done. An augmentation on a cat or dog A head set with a microphone Kevin also appears to learn. In terms of AI, this is nontrivial; it seems that Arthur is skilled beyond just magic. Gotta say, still not a fan of the character, Kevin. Not seeing that he brings a lot to the comic.

NP Comic for Saturday, Nov 11, 2023 Ashley is beside herself.

NP Comic for Thursday, Nov 9, 2023 The change in magic with less power but greater flexibility appears to have greater ramifications than they were aware of. They can combine spells. Nanase doesn't quite get to tell us what her new spell was. The limitations of AI shown in a harsh light. Fox is now programmed for a task, and has no sense about when it is appropriate. (Imagine if she had the strength, and did not understand not to fold the human with the clothes. Sky Net, here we come.) Also, Kevin is aware of his obsolescence, but is oddly capable of meta reasoning about it. I wonder if he can modify his curriculum to take changes into account or if it is hard coded. He is apparently able to understand that it has changed.

NP Comic for Thursday, Nov 2, 2023 Having magic gave mousey, short Rhoda confidence (well, magic, and a girlfriend). Magic has so far made Ashley more neurotic. Maybe when she gets some power, that will change.

NP Comic for Saturday, Oct 21, 2023 Fox is having a difficult time. Electrodes in the skull could definitely liven up the hijinks, especially if you use home tools to install them.

NP Comic for Tuesday, Oct 17, 2023 Nanase and Fox have done this before. Fox won that time. The middle panel is a bit puzzling. I have not seen peoples glasses glowing when they think. Perhaps I have not observed people actually thinking. We are pretty good at faking it. Or maybe it's a different universe thing. I think I need to make LED glasses that I can light up. It will interfere with using them to see, but it will look impressive in the right situation.

NP Comic for Saturday, Oct 14, 2023 23,590 + 1,011 = 24,601 Pretty much everyone has access to a calculator, because the app is on phones, and even if you have no signal, that should work.

NP Comic for Thursday, Oct 12, 2023 She's really beside herself!

NP Comic for Tuesday, Oct 10, 2023 It is the afternoon, and no one has posted this yet. Nanase is having issues.

NP Comic for Tuesday, Oct 3, 2023 We are not getting nekkid!

NP Comic for Tuesday, Sep 26, 2023 Nanase is least cool when she's looking for approval as cool. My impression is that prior to the magic change, making out with a caster and her double would have been somewhat like a twin fantasy, but knowing it was a double might sour the deal. After the change, both the caster and the double would seem mentally challenged; this does not sound appealing. Ashley is imagining something like the first scenario in her head canon. So, did Nanase use Fox in sessions with Ellen or not? Would it enhance the situation from either point of view? Nanase might think, "Am I not enough for you on my own?" Ellen might think it is a way of Nanase distancing herself. Or it could have just happened off scene, that seems to be the EGS default. It is noteworthy that Ashley imagined Elliot as male. I think every time they've made out in the comic, they've both been female.

NP Comic for Tuesday, Sep 19, 2023 Kevin is loosing whatever passes for his mind. Delusions of grandeur clearly labelled. Nice touch. If you cut up Kevin with a table saw, would you have four mini-Kevins, or would they no longer work? Hmm, I think we need to apply the scientific method.

NP Comic for Thursday, Sep 21, 2023 Nanase appears to trust Tedd much more than she did earlier in the EGS comics. This arc should be interesting, establishing the details of how magic changed for them.

NP Comic for Saturday, Sep 16, 2023 Nanase seems happy to see The Incredible Wonder Stick, another clue that she hasn't been around him all that much.

NP Comic for Thursday, Sep 14, 2023 Nanase wants to have her pre-change spell back. The way magic changed, I don't think that is possible. She may have a reasonable equivalent if she can narrow it down to a set of features she really needs, but she won't get the whole ball of wax back, the power has been reduced.

NP Comic for Tuesday, Aug 15, 2023 I suppose that as an emotional basket case, Rich needed to be tossed a bone. It seems to blunt the personal growth lesson, though.

NP Comic for Thursday, Aug 3, 2023 George mentions Luke keeping Justin company, so Luke is in the shop? Cheerleadra flying by seems more contrived than Elliot just showing up, but whatever.