Story Wednesday November 1, 2017

[The Old Hack 2,448]

http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2417

Uh-oh. I was afraid of this.

[hkmaly 490]

So the "thinking about baseball" is NOT as universal as Ellen and Nanase pretends. Also, considering what Diane put Susan through, she got out of it easy if it will be just Susan making big fun of her. And finally, there IS woman baseball, isn't it?

(I know I'm repeating myself but I still like my explanation)

Anyway, wonderful interaction between Susan and Diane.

...

Vampires. Ok, can't say I didn't expected them, but isn't this too early? Also, nice reuse of character. Now we KNOW he's not saving any kangaroos. And finally, he must be good in camouflage, as he apparently was walking towards Adrian last time we saw him. On second though, Adrian is primary target: he likely knows exactly where he is and is observing him, noticing Susan and Diane was just lucky bonus.

Hmmm ... did he noticed them talking with Adrian? Will he try to use Susan as hostage? Or, if he's clever, Diane?

 

[The Old Hack 2,448]

23 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Now we KNOW he's not saving any kangaroos.

We can't be completely sure. Maybe he is only devoid of empathy for anything human but still feels great sentiment for kangaroos. He might be on a heroic quest to insure that kangaroos will survive the coming age of extinction and repopulate the Earth.

...or not.

[partner555 170]

Oh oh dear, and kudos to you Dan for making a seemingly gag character very important.

[Tom Sewell 268]

Ta-a-ke me out to the ball game...

• Double-header
• The Importance of good hydration
• Strike three!

[Tom Sewell 268]

If you think 'roos aren't plotting to do us in, you need to read more Tank Girl!

[Tom Sewell 268]

18 minutes ago, partner555 said:

Oh oh dear, and kudos to you Dan for making a seemingly gag character very important.

We never got a good look at Big Mouth in human guise. Maybe Kangaroo Guy is Big Mouth.

[Stature 96]

Kay then, softball?

Next up, Rogue Roo at the Concrete Zoo.

[Scotty 1,061]

I did not see kangaroo guy being an abberation. Though in hindsight I guess it makes sense that those that would scam people out of money would be like vampires right?

 

2 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

We never got a good look at Big Mouth in human guise. Maybe Kangaroo Guy is Big Mouth.

I think you meant this page rather than repasting the link of Nanase thinking about baseball.

It's hard to tell by the silhouette though, could be, or maybe another abberation, there are supposed to be many of them involved. Personally I'd wonder more about what the real deal is with scarf guy if we keep seeing him talking with different abberations.

 

 

[Tom Sewell 268]

31 minutes ago, Scotty said:

I think you meant this page rather than repasting the link of Nanase thinking about baseball.

I think so, too.

Big Mouth seemed to be a lot more reckless than Scarf, but now there are slayers very close, not to mention the primary target. Still, Diane and Susan are heading away from the mall entrance and Raven. What's Scarf waiting for? More slayers? Scarf was obviously the smart one in his previous appearance and this looks to me like maybe the best chance to catch the half-immortal alone and by surprise.

[Drasvin 123]

4 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Vampires. Ok, can't say I didn't expected them, but isn't this too early? Also, nice reuse of character. Now we KNOW he's not saving any kangaroos. And finally, he must be good in camouflage, as he apparently was walking towards Adrian last time we saw him. On second though, Adrian is primary target: he likely knows exactly where he is and is observing him, noticing Susan and Diane was just lucky bonus.

Hmmm ... did he noticed them talking with Adrian? Will he try to use Susan as hostage? Or, if he's clever, Diane?

It's a good idea to recon the area and get a good idea about angles of attack (and escape, if things go pear-shaped) before the actual attack starts. While some vampires might relish the opportunity to cut loose and rampage, most are going to look for ways to maximize their chances of survival(at least as much as their ego and arrogance will allow). And camouflage wouldn't necessarily be needed beyond a human form. Adrian has to use effort to detect magic while in his aged form.

I doubt he would try to use Susan or Diane as hostages. He sensed that they have the talent to summon magic weapons. Better to just kill them than hold them close where they have the best shot at harming him. If he uses one or more hostages, then random mall civilians would be the better option (Though I'm not sure if using hostages would occur to the average vampire. Sirleck had trouble understanding Magus's empathy-based reasoning behind feeling responsible for those that the mercenaries kill during the operation. Most vampires probably would not readily understand others being reluctant to attack through hostages)

58 minutes ago, Scotty said:

I did not see kangaroo guy being an abberation. Though in hindsight I guess it makes sense that those that would scam people out of money would be like vampires right?

If one doesn't have a lot of empathy to begin with, then losing empathy isn't that big of a cost. Does first require Awakening, which just means being lucky and/or determined enough to stumble over a path to power.

19 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

What's Scarf waiting for? More slayers? Scarf was obviously the smart one in his previous appearance and this looks to me like maybe the best chance to catch the half-immortal alone and by surprise.

He's likely waiting for the signal. The job isn't to just kill the half-immortal, but to also make a lot of noise and destruction. A smart individual would likely realize that they're a distraction for something else (if it wasn't spelled out in their contract, which I doubt it was) If Scarf attacks before the signal, he risks invalidating the contract. Sirleck wants an attention-drawing riot, not a quiet assassination.

[hkmaly 490]

13 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

13 hours ago, partner555 said:

Oh oh dear, and kudos to you Dan for making a seemingly gag character very important.

We never got a good look at Big Mouth in human guise. Maybe Kangaroo Guy is Big Mouth.

He seem thinner and his interaction with the one with scarf is different. Of course, can't be completely rejected.

10 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

What's Scarf waiting for? More slayers?

Signal, obviously.

9 hours ago, Drasvin said:

He's likely waiting for the signal. The job isn't to just kill the half-immortal, but to also make a lot of noise and destruction. A smart individual would likely realize that they're a distraction for something else (if it wasn't spelled out in their contract, which I doubt it was) If Scarf attacks before the signal, he risks invalidating the contract. Sirleck wants an attention-drawing riot, not a quiet assassination.

The distraction aspect might not be spelled, however the waiting for signal was spelled quite directly. And questioning the details of contract is not best way to get paid.

9 hours ago, Drasvin said:

It's a good idea to recon the area and get a good idea about angles of attack (and escape, if things go pear-shaped) before the actual attack starts. While some vampires might relish the opportunity to cut loose and rampage, most are going to look for ways to maximize their chances of survival(at least as much as their ego and arrogance will allow).

Agree, and especially the scarf vampire looks like the maximize-survival type. The big mouth one, not so much.

9 hours ago, Drasvin said:

And camouflage wouldn't necessarily be needed beyond a human form. Adrian has to use effort to detect magic while in his aged form.

True.

9 hours ago, Drasvin said:

I doubt he would try to use Susan or Diane as hostages. He sensed that they have the talent to summon magic weapons. Better to just kill them than hold them close where they have the best shot at harming him.

He might be good enough to detect Diane is not awakened yet. Holding Susan would be stupid, yes. On the other hand, we have precedent for vampire making mistake with Susan ...

9 hours ago, Drasvin said:

Though I'm not sure if using hostages would occur to the average vampire. Sirleck had trouble understanding Magus's empathy-based reasoning behind feeling responsible for those that the mercenaries kill during the operation. Most vampires probably would not readily understand others being reluctant to attack through hostages

... hmmm ... I'm not sure, lack of empathy doesn't necessarily mean not understanding it. However, you may be right about most vampires ...

 

[Don Edwards 548]

Even not understanding empathy doesn't mean that any given aberration couldn't recognize that it's something fairly common in humans, and allow that fact to influence his actions.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

6 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

Even not understanding empathy doesn't mean that any given aberration couldn't recognize that it's something fairly common in humans, and allow that fact to influence his actions.

True. But as we have seen, some aberrations are massively overconfident and wouldn't bother simply because they couldn't imagine needing that kind of edge. Still, the smarter ones would certainly be aware of it and keep it in their bag of tricks against possible need.

[partner555 170]

11 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

I think so, too.

Big Mouth seemed to be a lot more reckless than Scarf, but now there are slayers very close, not to mention the primary target. Still, Diane and Susan are heading away from the mall entrance and Raven. What's Scarf waiting for? More slayers? Scarf was obviously the smart one in his previous appearance and this looks to me like maybe the best chance to catch the half-immortal alone and by surprise.

Scarf dude is waiting for Sirleck's signal. I assume they didn't get it yet.

[Tom Sewell 268]

Shouldn't the distraction be somewhere else besides where the main target is?

How much of this master plan does Magus know? There hasn't been any evidence that Magus even knew Adrian was Pandora's son before she told him Abraham hurt her son. The distraction, yes, that sounds like it might get Ellen and Elliot together to get Ellen to zap Elliot instead of Tedd, a vampire, whatever. (Tony would be nice.) But if the vampires attack Susan, not only Adrian but everyone is likely to come converge on the mall at maximum speed. Same result if Adrian gets attacked. And making anything like coordinated attacks on multiple targets just isn't happening; just getting them together without killing each other is a major achievement. I don't think the army can do much better than just start making trouble wherever they are when the signal everyone else seems to be sure is coming, comes. I don't think the whole bunch of them could defeat Adrian unless they achieved total surprise--and I'm pretty sure Jerry is still watching the girls and may be keeping an eye on Adrian as well. Maybe even Pandora. Susan has her not-date tonight, so she's either finished bringing down the magic to a safe level, or she's going to finish up later. Either way, Pandora doesn't have any reason more than curiosity to watch her. And, of course, Helen and Demetrius are either still watching Elliot, or putting together a nasty surprise for Team Vampire.

Remember, the vampires don't get any bonus for killing Slayers, just not losing the bonus for not killing anyone except Adrian Raven.

And I don't see any reason for Voltaire to have set up Pandora's son. Tedd knows Raven is his godfather, but he doesn't remember him at all.

Wait--maybe there is one that sort of makes sense. If Raven had trained Tedd, Tedd would be an extremely powerful wizard by now, able to create wands of far more versatility and power. And if he is the Chosen One for the special role after the next change of magic, Tedd could shape magic in ways that perhaps Voltaire would rather he didn't. If Raven gets to train Tedd after all... well, Voltaire doesn't seem to want to kill Tedd, only warp him in some way. So, killing Raven ties up that loose end forever.

I suspect that Voltaire would be quite happy if none of the vampires, Sirleck, or Magus survive, and perhaps he has already taken steps to ensure that happy ending.

I also suspect that Voltaire is going to outsmart himself. He may have already. Remember the pithos on the amulet that was controlling Dex? Pandora has never called herself "Jar". It's possible that this mistake has already informed Pandora if not of Voltaire's actual identity, at least that the same Immortal who tried to kill Elliot also tried to  frame her. Raven knowing this could explain some of the tension he was showing when he had his encounter with Susan and Diane. 

[hkmaly 490]

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Shouldn't the distraction be somewhere else besides where the main target is?

Remember that it's main target for vampires and for Sirleck, not for Magus.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

How much of this master plan does Magus know?

IF Sirleck would tell him about Adrian, Magus would tell him his mother is THE crazy immortal who got him into this mess in first place. Sirleck would immediately change strategy. As far as Magus is avare, the vampires are JUST supposed to create distraction, noone specific involved.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

And making anything like coordinated attacks on multiple targets just isn't happening

No vampire should be attacking Elliot. Vampires are supposed to attract attention of IMMORTALS guarding Elliot.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

I don't think the army can do much better than just start making trouble wherever they are when the signal everyone else seems to be sure is coming, comes.

That was basically original plan before Sirleck was informed about Adrian.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

I don't think the whole bunch of them could defeat Adrian unless they achieved total surprise--and I'm pretty sure Jerry is still watching the girls

Sirleck assumes Adrian is just around one hundred. Not over two hundreds and taught fighting from immortal who eradicated werewolves. There is lot of underestimation involved.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

And I don't see any reason for Voltaire to have set up Pandora's son. Tedd knows Raven is his godfather, but he doesn't remember him at all.

Voltaire seem to hate Pandora. Also, he might count on her doing something which would bring magic reset if Adrian is hurt.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

And if he is the Chosen One for the special role after the next change of magic

He's not The Chosen One. He's just one of possible chosen ones.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

If Raven gets to train Tedd after all... well, Voltaire doesn't seem to want to kill Tedd, only warp him in some way. So, killing Raven ties up that loose end forever.

IF the magic reset would not be coming soon, Voltaire definitely doesn't need someone as experienced as Raven to teach Tedd magic OR making him stable. However, I still think Pandora is main target, for reason not yet revealed. Magic reset might be just step in plan to destroy Pandora.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

I suspect that Voltaire would be quite happy if none of the vampires, Sirleck, or Magus survive, and perhaps he has already taken steps to ensure that happy ending.

To be fair, Sirleck wouldn't mind if no vampire survives and Magus would consider it a bonus ... but they are underestimating Adrian and Pandora. Voltaire might simply assume that vampires, Sirleck and Magus have no chance surviving Pandora's wrath.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

I also suspect that Voltaire is going to outsmart himself. He may have already. Remember the pithos on the amulet that was controlling Dex? Pandora has never called herself "Jar".

Yes, it's quite obvious that he was too clever when setting up THAT trap.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

It's possible that this mistake has already informed Pandora if not of Voltaire's actual identity, at least that the same Immortal who tried to kill Elliot also tried to  frame her. Raven knowing this could explain some of the tension he was showing when he had his encounter with Susan and Diane. 

BUT so far Raven didn't realized AND Pandora doesn't know. Remember that they last talk ended with Raven assuming it was her doing and Pandora not even knowing what happened which might killed Noah. Also, Raven don't knows that Elliot was main target in that incident - WE know, but Raven hasn't been told by anyone yet. Neither does Pandora, although she knows at least little about the second attempt.

 

Main eight are sharing lot of information between themselves, but Pandora and Raven currently lacks a lot ...

[Tom Sewell 268]

6 hours ago, hkmaly said:

WE know, but Raven hasn't been told by anyone yet.

That we know about. Dan may do something in the dark in order to resolve this storyline the way he wants to. Except for the pithos, Voltaire seems to be winning now. Adrian is very powerful, but he was still defeated by Abraham, who isn't an Immortal or an aberration. If vampires surprise him, it's much more likely he could be killed.

[Drasvin 123]

10 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Shouldn't the distraction be somewhere else besides where the main target is?

How much of this master plan does Magus know? There hasn't been any evidence that Magus even knew Adrian was Pandora's son before she told him Abraham hurt her son. The distraction, yes, that sounds like it might get Ellen and Elliot together to get Ellen to zap Elliot instead of Tedd, a vampire, whatever. (Tony would be nice.) But if the vampires attack Susan, not only Adrian but everyone is likely to come converge on the mall at maximum speed.

While the attack is likely to bring Ellen and Elliot and most of the rest of the main cast to the site of the attack, that would only be once they hear about it. Adrian, Susan, and Diane are likely going to be too busy fighting and trying to survive to get word directly to the rest of the group. On top of that, Elliot and Ellen both have a bad history of not checking messages until after the fact. Though once they hear about the attack, Ellen and Elliot's transit time to the attack site is likely to be much more than Helena and Demetrius's transit time, giving Magus his window of opportunity. He just has to make sure they don't take separate transportation to the attack site. And hearing that one of their friends is in the middle of the attack could actually help Magus, as it would cause emotions to run high, giving him more to work with.

10 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Remember, the vampires don't get any bonus for killing Slayers, just not losing the bonus for not killing anyone except Adrian Raven.

Yeah, but vampires already have a high incentive to kill Slayers, given that Slayers are the most capable at killing vampires.

7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

10 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

And I don't see any reason for Voltaire to have set up Pandora's son. Tedd knows Raven is his godfather, but he doesn't remember him at all.

Voltaire seem to hate Pandora. Also, he might count on her doing something which would bring magic reset if Adrian is hurt.

I wonder if Voltaire is manipulating the attack to try to throw Pandora of his trail. If Adrian is attacked (or worse, killed), then Pandora will freak out and go hunting for whoever caused it, with the obvious trail leading to Sirleck and Magus. She might be able to follow the trail to the detective, as Voltaire impersonated him to give Sirleck the information about Adrian, assuming either Sirleck or Magus is alive to question.  She could then question the detective and learn about Voltaire, but that would take time and again requires nothing to have happened to the detective.

50 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Adrian is very powerful, but he was still defeated by Abraham, who isn't an Immortal or an aberration. If vampires surprise him, it's much more likely he could be killed.

Adrian lost to Abraham when he let his guard down slightly to do the moral thing and let Abraham have a chance to surrender. He would know that aberrations are irredeemable and he shouldn't hold back, except maybe to conserve strength for an extended battle. He'll likely need help surviving the initial engagement, but he should be fine against the aberrations if he can get past that. And setting up a scenario that gives him a few moments of forewarning, without having giving him information that the audience hasn't seen him receive, wouldn't be hard. For instance, the aberrations could decide to try to eliminate Susan and Diane first, since hunters are a more significant threat, at least psychologically. Or maybe one of the less careful vampires does something that gives the game away. On top of that, the vampires might not coordinate well, as Sirleck needed to add a strict monetary incentive to try to get them to work together. And once one vampire dies, that incentive to work together goes away, so their going to lose most to all of whatever group cohesion they have.

And I doubt we have to worry about Voltaire stepping in to kill Adrian personally. Too risky. Adrian might get a lucky hit in and cause him serious injury or he might draw Pandora's immediate attention, which would go very poorly for him.

[Scotty 1,061]

7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Voltaire seem to hate Pandora. Also, he might count on her doing something which would bring magic reset if Adrian is hurt.

It would seem like there would be a chain reaction should something happen to Adrian, Pandora and Tedd have bonded recently with Pandora even worrying about hurting Tedd, if Adrian was hurt badly or killed, Pandora would be enraged, and her actions could trigger a negative response from Tedd. Whether or not Voltaire planned this is uncertain but then again it wouldn't be called Plan CM if it was straightforward.

8 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Yes, it's quite obvious that he was too clever when setting up THAT trap.

I think Adrian's assumption as that Pandora was trying to be vague, that anyone else might not make the connection of the amulet to her, Adrian knew that the origin of the Pandora's Box myth was through a mistranslation of pithos and pyxis. If Edward knew about Pandora by name, but was not aware of the mistranslation, that amulet might not have clued him in. Of course considering Edward had encountered Pandora before when she gave him the warning about the egg and hawk, and her appearance on TV after Abraham's attack, even if Edward didn't know Pandora personally, he probably expected her to have been the one who manipulated Dex.

 

[Tom Sewell 268]

4 hours ago, Scotty said:

considering Edward had encountered Pandora before when she gave him the warning about the egg and hawk, and her appearance on TV after Abraham's attack, even if Edward didn't know Pandora personally, he probably expected her to have been the one who manipulated Dex.

I agree with all that except that it isn't set in stone that Edward hasn't met Pandora before the "hawk and egg" incident. Pandora uses other names and routinely uses different appearances. Adrian's last meeting with his mother was fourteen years before she visited him in hospital after the fight with Abraham. Which also means it was when Tedd was at least three yeas old. We don't know exactly when Noriko left,, or when Edward and Arian became estranged, and even if both of those things happened more than fourteen years before Abraham tried to kill Ellen, Adrian and Edward probably weren't totally out of communication. Dad's Government Job, remember? We don't even have any examples of Pandora taking on her appearance as Creepy Little Girl before Magus got hurled into the Moperverse.

It's a fine point and doesn't disprove what you said in the quote I'm citing here, but it does prove that Dan doesn't need to use smoke and mirrors to reveal that Edward (and Dan) can always come up with something he's never revealed to the other cast members and to us. Dan's spent a heck of a lot of time in his commentaries citing earlier plot points to support new ones, and even telling us how he's changed his mind about some things like Lord Tedd, the character concept of Susan, the permanence of Sarah and Elliot's romance, and, of course, The Goo. He really cares about the consistency of these things, more than every other comic creator I can think of. So I think Dan has become more and more careful about revealing things until the last possible instant because he keeps changing his mind about his story and knows he'll keep changing his mind. That way there are less things that were only true from a certain point of view.

Speaking of lies, the only thing I use Twitter for is El Goonish Shive.

[Scotty 1,061]

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

I agree with all that except that it isn't set in stone that Edward hasn't met Pandora before the "hawk and egg" incident.

I think I forgot a comma in my statement there, Edward having encountered Pandora before was in reference to the egg and hawk warning, I wasn't trying to imply he had known about her before then.

[Tom Sewell 268]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

I think I forgot a comma in my statement there, Edward having encountered Pandora before was in reference to the egg and hawk warning, I wasn't trying to imply he had known about her before then.

I didn't notice the comma. But then again, I got the idea you were saying Edward didn't encounter Pandora before the egg from its nest. My last posting was all about how Edward could have met Pandora without knowing the creepy little girl was the same Immortal he'd met before. What's unthinkable about Pandora visiting her son's protoges when Edward was a big part of their lives? She wouldn't have had to tell them her name was Pandora, or even that she was an Immortal or that she was Mr. Raven's mother. "They" and "them" mean young Edward and Noriko. Maybe Nanase's mom as well.

[Tom Sewell 268]

I got a new keyboard and mouse yesterday with a lot of bells and whistles, and I keep losing windows by hitting the wrong key or clicking the wrong mouse gadget. If you're curious, the keyboard is a Corsair K70 RGB Rapidfire and the mouse a Corsair M65 Pro RGB. Would any of you be interested in me starting an off-topic thread about computer, web, and smartphone geekery? My geek cred goes back to mainframes and punch cards.

Never mind, I'm using Softwares & Hardwares.

 

Edited November 3, 2017 by Tom Sewell
Should have checked Off-Topic threads first.

[hkmaly 490]

9 hours ago, Drasvin said:

10 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Adrian is very powerful, but he was still defeated by Abraham, who isn't an Immortal or an aberration. If vampires surprise him, it's much more likely he could be killed.

Adrian lost to Abraham when he let his guard down slightly to do the moral thing and let Abraham have a chance to surrender.

Yes.

9 hours ago, Drasvin said:

For instance, the aberrations could decide to try to eliminate Susan and Diane first, since hunters are a more significant threat, at least psychologically.

I would say that Adrian is more dangerous but the vampires are not aware of it.

9 hours ago, Drasvin said:

And I doubt we have to worry about Voltaire stepping in to kill Adrian personally. Too risky. Adrian might get a lucky hit in and cause him serious injury or he might draw Pandora's immediate attention, which would go very poorly for him.

I think that even as elf, Adrian is still protected by immortal laws and Voltaire is not ALLOWED to attack him directly.

9 hours ago, Scotty said:

17 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Voltaire seem to hate Pandora. Also, he might count on her doing something which would bring magic reset if Adrian is hurt.

It would seem like there would be a chain reaction should something happen to Adrian, Pandora and Tedd have bonded recently with Pandora even worrying about hurting Tedd, if Adrian was hurt badly or killed, Pandora would be enraged, and her actions could trigger a negative response from Tedd. Whether or not Voltaire planned this is uncertain but then again it wouldn't be called Plan CM if it was straightforward.

Hmmm ... I don't think that Voltaire expected Pandora to bond with Tedd, but "Plan CM" will certainly have some very unexpected parts ...

5 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

9 hours ago, Scotty said:

considering Edward had encountered Pandora before when she gave him the warning about the egg and hawk, and her appearance on TV after Abraham's attack, even if Edward didn't know Pandora personally, he probably expected her to have been the one who manipulated Dex.

I agree with all that except that it isn't set in stone that Edward hasn't met Pandora before the "hawk and egg" incident. Pandora uses other names and routinely uses different appearances. Adrian's last meeting with his mother was fourteen years before she visited him in hospital after the fight with Abraham. Which also means it was when Tedd was at least three yeas old. We don't know exactly when Noriko left,, or when Edward and Arian became estranged, and even if both of those things happened more than fourteen years before Abraham tried to kill Ellen, Adrian and Edward probably weren't totally out of communication. Dad's Government Job, remember? We don't even have any examples of Pandora taking on her appearance as Creepy Little Girl before Magus got hurled into the Moperverse.

Adrian's mother (possibly without name or without the Pandora part) might indeed be in Dad's Government Business files ... but I wonder if they know how far past reset she is and if they don't think she already reset.

5 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Dan's spent a heck of a lot of time in his commentaries citing earlier plot points to support new ones, and even telling us how he's changed his mind about some things like Lord Tedd, the character concept of Susan, the permanence of Sarah and Elliot's romance, and, of course, The Goo. He really cares about the consistency of these things, more than every other comic creator I can think of. So I think Dan has become more and more careful about revealing things until the last possible instant because he keeps changing his mind about his story and knows he'll keep changing his mind. That way there are less things that were only true from a certain point of view.

And the few other comics creators caring about consistency are not admitting when something changes. I really like this on EGS. Seems like Dan is getting better in it, including using the "character say something as truth and later finds out being mistaken about it" tool ... but there are definitely things he's keeping secret just so he can change them. Makes speculating more fun.

2 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

What's unthinkable about Pandora visiting her son's protoges when Edward was a big part of their lives? She wouldn't have had to tell them her name was Pandora, or even that she was an Immortal or that she was Mr. Raven's mother. "They" and "them" mean young Edward and Noriko. Maybe Nanase's mom as well.

I think they would notice she's immortal considering they would be training to recognize stuff like that ... and more important question, what would that accomplish? ONLY way Edward already knowing Pandora in advance would be relevant for story would be if he DID know something about her, most likely her being Adrian's mother.

9 hours ago, Scotty said:

17 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Yes, it's quite obvious that he was too clever when setting up THAT trap.

I think Adrian's assumption as that Pandora was trying to be vague, that anyone else might not make the connection of the amulet to her, Adrian knew that the origin of the Pandora's Box myth was through a mistranslation of pithos and pyxis.

Adrian knew it ... however, I suspect Pandora never learned this little fact and am looking forward to the comics where this will be used.