np NP, Wednesday March 9, 2016

[Scotty 1,061]

http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=431

Looks like we're going to start winding things down now.

As far as Dan's commentary about MFV# vs MV-F#, In all honesty, I agree that if your going to tweak the form that much, you'd be better off creating a new form set separate from the MV form, otherwise it'd probably be less confusing to just create an MV6, MV7 and so on with the feminine touches.

 

[Sjmcc13 42]

Looks like grace is mid-changing back in the last panel. 

[exterminator 37]

It's not that easy, Grace. You can mix and match any given form, but the TF Gun would need to store all forms you want to have, and this is a combinatorial explosion waiting to happen.

[Circe 32]

I hope we're not winding down!  We need to see Sarah trying out a male form again....I'm curious to see how she'll react this time.  Not to mention Ellen's reaction to two hunky male Sarah's....

[The Old Hack 2,448]

I am torn. I love some of the forms they have come up with but on the other hand I would like to see something new. Maybe something involving Susan? She hasn't been around even in the main comic for a while.

[Stature 96]

You know what they say, "Look before you glomp."
Of course someone should take down notes.

[hkmaly 490]

45 minutes ago, exterminator said:

It's not that easy, Grace. You can mix and match any given form, but the TF Gun would need to store all forms you want to have, and this is a combinatorial explosion waiting to happen.

It is implied they can store the forms somewhere else, possibly on computer, with enough space for much more forms.

31 minutes ago, Circe said:

I hope we're not winding down!  We need to see Sarah trying out a male form again....I'm curious to see how she'll react this time.  Not to mention Ellen's reaction to two hunky male Sarah's....

That's still moving from "Grace shows forms preview" somewhere else, namely "Sarah testing new forms".

[Scotty 1,061]

 

 

28 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

1 hour ago, Circe said:

I hope we're not winding down!  We need to see Sarah trying out a male form again....I'm curious to see how she'll react this time.  Not to mention Ellen's reaction to two hunky male Sarah's....

That's still moving from "Grace shows forms preview" somewhere else, namely "Sarah testing new forms".

That's also assuming Grace turns back into hunky male Sarah. Which probably won't happen, we'd most likely see Grace in the MV5 form of herself again though.

What I do wonder, is if Grace would show off an MV5 of Ellen. That would basically be a beefier Elliot wouldn't it?

[Aura Guardian 57]

1 hour ago, Sjmcc13 said:

Looks like grace is mid-changing back in the last panel. 

Yeah. First thing I noticed.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

I get the feeling that if anyone, even Grace, says that Ellen shouldn't try a male form, that will make Ellen determined to do so.  Should we hope that Grace and Sarah realize this and avoid the issue skillfully?  Or is anyone else, like me, thinking it's about time Ellen declares herself "over it" and gets zapped?

(Edited to add: Hmm, maybe that would be a logical upgrade of her own transformation beam, to be able to turn people male as well as female, now that she's over her improper Awakening?)

[SeriousJupiter 49]

Oh, so this storyline is finally coming to an end? That's fine with me, because I mostly considered it fanservice and- HEY WAIT A MINUTE WHERE'S TEDD?! Dan said that Tedd would show up in this storyline at some point, so now would be the time for him to come home and confirm once and for all if this storyline takes place before the card games or not. I mean, it seems quite obvious that all of this is happening before the card games, but maybe that's the point - it's too obvious. Maybe Tedd will come home with his pixie cut and casually mention having been over at Justin's with his Dad and the Magic Analysis Wand to see if he'd been Awakened. Wouldn't that be a nice twist?

Also, did I seriously misunderstand something, or was Grace actually suggesting creating intersex forms?

[Howitzer 32]

I read this comic, and I was thinking to myself, "It looks like Dan's started to realize just how long this story's become, and is trying to cut it off."

Then I read the commentary and found I was totally correct.

Not that I would have minded a bit more. It's an interesting topic.

[partner555 170]

So we're seeing a conclusion soon? I wonder what the next NP will be.

[Scotty 1,061]

1 hour ago, CritterKeeper said:

I get the feeling that if anyone, even Grace, says that Ellen shouldn't try a male form, that will make Ellen determined to do so.  Should we hope that Grace and Sarah realize this and avoid the issue skillfully?  Or is anyone else, like me, thinking it's about time Ellen declares herself "over it" and gets zapped?

(Edited to add: Hmm, maybe that would be a logical upgrade of her own transformation beam, to be able to turn people male as well as female, now that she's over her improper Awakening?)

I was always of the belief that the idea of there being negative effects to Ellen being turned into a male were meant more for the fact that she had just recently been brought into existence and barely had any identity that she could say was hers and not just working off Elliot's memories, and that after a year she's figured out who she is and therefore shouldn't have any negative reaction to trying out a male form for fun.

We actually can't know for sure because of the fact that it was Grace that told Tedd that it wouldn't be a good idea for Ellen to be zapped, for all we know it could have been Grace's plan to keep Ellen female so that she could hook up with Nanase. We know Grace had noticed how Nanase and Ellen acted around each other before her and Sarah overheard Nanase and Susan's discussion, an knowing Grace's relationship sense, she could have been acting to make sure that was possible though she might have figured that it'd be easier if just one of them was male and came up with an excuse to keep Ellen female.

As for a male zappy upgrade to Ellen's beam, It would make sense that to be able to get that, she would likely need to be zapped herself into a male form, which sounds a lot easier than what Elliot's attempts in trying to get non-female forms.

[hkmaly 490]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

I was always of the belief that the idea of there being negative effects to Ellen being turned into a male were meant more for the fact that she had just recently been brought into existence and barely had any identity that she could say was hers and not just working off Elliot's memories, and that after a year she's figured out who she is and therefore shouldn't have any negative reaction to trying out a male form for fun.

We actually can't know for sure because of the fact that it was Grace that told Tedd that it wouldn't be a good idea for Ellen to be zapped, for all we know it could have been Grace's plan to keep Ellen female so that she could hook up with Nanase. We know Grace had noticed how Nanase and Ellen acted around each other before her and Sarah overheard Nanase and Susan's discussion, an knowing Grace's relationship sense, she could have been acting to make sure that was possible though she might have figured that it'd be easier if just one of them was male and came up with an excuse to keep Ellen female.

Agree with both: she could easily be over it AND it may not be that bad in first place.

On the other hand, we don't have canon confirmation that she's ok with male forms either.

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

As for a male zappy upgrade to Ellen's beam, It would make sense that to be able to get that, she would likely need to be zapped herself into a male form, which sounds a lot easier than what Elliot's attempts in trying to get non-female forms.

Elliot's attempts notwithstanding, magic doesn't work this way ; even if Ellen will get zapped with male form hundred times, it won't cause her to get it as a spell. Meanwhile, she MIGHT get such spell without being zapped at all.

2 hours ago, SeriousJupiter said:

Oh, so this storyline is finally coming to an end? That's fine with me, because I mostly considered it fanservice and- HEY WAIT A MINUTE WHERE'S TEDD?! Dan said that Tedd would show up in this storyline at some point, so now would be the time for him to come home and confirm once and for all if this storyline takes place before the card games or not. I mean, it seems quite obvious that all of this is happening before the card games, but maybe that's the point - it's too obvious. Maybe Tedd will come home with his pixie cut and casually mention having been over at Justin's with his Dad and the Magic Analysis Wand to see if he'd been Awakened. Wouldn't that be a nice twist?

For the correct effect, Tedd needs to came when Sarah, Ellen or both are transformed.

2 hours ago, SeriousJupiter said:

Also, did I seriously misunderstand something, or was Grace actually suggesting creating intersex forms?

Or possibly true hermaphrodites.

[Don Edwards 548]

I suspect that Grace is way ahead of Ellen and Sarah in regard to gender being non-binary. Considering that she lives with Tedd and has (possibly, depending on just when this arc is set) known about Sam for a while.

 

[Scotty 1,061]

Actually, I'm going to retract my statement about Grace making up an excuse to keep Ellen female for the birthday as there has been plenty of opportunity after the fact for Grace to confess that she made it up.

Back near the beginning of the story, Grace did wonder if Sarah was worried about Ellen being uncomfortable with turning into a guy. No hint that bad things could happen, just uncomfortable. Dan's commentary for that page supports it with him saying he "had trouble making it clear that the concern was just Ellen not wanting to turn into a guy, as opposed to giving the impression that it would be bad if she did for some reason." This leads me to think that early on it was more the fact that Ellen might have felt that if she turned back into a male, particularly back into Elliot, that she might start feeling more entitled to his life, and it wouldn't be fair to Elliot so she opted to stay female and continue trying to be a different person than Elliot.

[SeriousJupiter 49]

1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

Or possibly true hermaphrodites.

Hmm, I wonder if anyone in the Main Eight (including Grace herself) would be into that.

[Xenophon Hendrix 47]

My head canon has Grace not necessarily being into it, but being totally unfazed by such a morph.

[Stature 96]

I even doubt that they will think of it.

[Matoyak 51]

11 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

I am torn. I love some of the forms they have come up with but on the other hand I would like to see something new. Maybe something involving Susan? She hasn't been around even in the main comic for a while.

Yeah, I'm pushing for "get on with it so we can see new things! And Susan, pls!", myself.

12 hours ago, Sjmcc13 said:

Looks like grace is mid-changing back in the last panel. 

I noticed this as well.

10 hours ago, SeriousJupiter said:

Dan said that Tedd would show up in this storyline at some point..

Did he? I thought he said that Tedd "may" show up in it, not that it was a guaranteed thing...

[Mackus 3]

Non-binary sexes. I've been wondering if it'll be mentioned in the storyline, its natural thing to consider, given what TFGun is shown of being capable.

Regrettably it'll probably go nowhere, because it'll be difficult to discuss it in-comic without being too sexual to maintain its current rating.

We'll probably still get to see masculine-female and feminine-male versions of main cast, so there's that at least.

[hkmaly 490]

8 hours ago, SeriousJupiter said:

Hmm, I wonder if anyone in the Main Eight (including Grace herself) would be into that.

 

7 hours ago, Xenophon Hendrix said:

My head canon has Grace not necessarily being into it, but being totally unfazed by such a morph.

 

2 hours ago, Stature said:

I even doubt that they will think of it.

Into that? Likely not. Wanting to test it for science? Both Grace and Tedd definitely. Thinking about it? She either just did or almost did.

8 hours ago, Scotty said:

Actually, I'm going to retract my statement about Grace making up an excuse to keep Ellen female for the birthday as there has been plenty of opportunity after the fact for Grace to confess that she made it up.

Back near the beginning of the story, Grace did wonder if Sarah was worried about Ellen being uncomfortable with turning into a guy. No hint that bad things could happen, just uncomfortable. Dan's commentary for that page supports it with him saying he "had trouble making it clear that the concern was just Ellen not wanting to turn into a guy, as opposed to giving the impression that it would be bad if she did for some reason." This leads me to think that early on it was more the fact that Ellen might have felt that if she turned back into a male, particularly back into Elliot, that she might start feeling more entitled to his life, and it wouldn't be fair to Elliot so she opted to stay female and continue trying to be a different person than Elliot.

Beginning of this story, sure, but I don't remember any older cases where this could've come up. For years, "Grace was making it up" was totally possible explanation.

[Circe 32]

I'd love to see Tedd there as Tess with the other three MV5'd.  That would make for a fun sketchbook entry!

I agree with Mackus; we probably won't actually see a non-binary form.  It may be discussed a little more, especially if/when Sam and Sarah become a storyline.

I hope Dan will address Ellen turning into a male form.  She should be past establishing herself as an individual now, so if she's avoiding a gender change I have to wonder why.

 

 

[LivewareProblem 3]

3 hours ago, Mackus said:

Non-binary sexes. I've been wondering if it'll be mentioned in the storyline, its natural thing to consider, given what TFGun is shown of being capable.

Regrettably it'll probably go nowhere, because it'll be difficult to discuss it in-comic without being too sexual to maintain its current rating.

We'll probably still get to see masculine-female and feminine-male versions of main cast, so there's that at least.

EGS: After Dark?

It would be a nice thread to see pulled, but alas, it's part of the category of things Dan has made clear he is uncomfortable writing about/illustrating (though I'm surprised he's doing pinups as part of Patreon awards now).