• Announcements

    • Robin

      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
Sign in to follow this  
The Old Hack

Story Monday April 9, 2018

Recommended Posts

... so, Magus WAS going to wake up Ellen. No surprise.

Also, Magus might have point with men being physically stronger. He didn't have any problem fighting cheerleadra, and cheerleadra is supposed to be superhero ... and Elliot is supposed to have ASMA training, which shouldn't be THAT much worse in PUNCHING than Magus's battlemage training.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
13 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

... so, Magus WAS going to wake up Ellen. No surprise.

Also, Magus might have point with men being physically stronger. He didn't have any problem fighting cheerleadra, and cheerleadra is supposed to be superhero ... and Elliot is supposed to have ASMA training, which shouldn't be THAT much worse in PUNCHING than Magus's battlemage training.

But you need to remember that Eliot still isn't accustomed to fighting while flying, while that's probably one of the earliest things a battle mage learns.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
14 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

... so, Magus WAS going to wake up Ellen. No surprise.

Also, Magus might have point with men being physically stronger. He didn't have any problem fighting cheerleadra, and cheerleadra is supposed to be superhero ... and Elliot is supposed to have ASMA training, which shouldn't be THAT much worse in PUNCHING than Magus's battlemage training.

Elliot was trained by someone who stumbled into magic with no idea what he was doing, got one custom personalized spell because it happens to match his nature, and has never really practiced fighting while flying. Magus was trained by an institution with centuries of experience behind it where his teachers knew exactly what they were doing, got a bunch of spells taught to him by said institution which specifically selected them for being the ones that centuries of experience proved the most effective, and has practiced all kinds of combat-by-magic (including combat while flying) as part of his regular school curriculum.

Of course Magus completely outclasses Elliot in this kind of fight.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

... so, Magus WAS going to wake up Ellen. No surprise.

Also, Magus might have point with men being physically stronger. He didn't have any problem fighting cheerleadra, and cheerleadra is supposed to be superhero ... and Elliot is supposed to have ASMA training, which shouldn't be THAT much worse in PUNCHING than Magus's battlemage training.

Technically, Magus didn't do any fighting, just dodged Elliot's punches and then just plainly stopped her fist with his hand. One on one, Magus does seem to be more skilled than Elliot, but yeah Elliot's got no real combat experience with Cheerleadra and she never had considered she would ever need her ASMA training in the air.

Strength might have advantages in some situations but most people can get buy with quick reflexes and problem solving.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
33 minutes ago, Douglas said:

Elliot was trained by someone who stumbled into magic with no idea what he was doing, got one custom personalized spell because it happens to match his nature, and has never really practiced fighting while flying.

29 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Technically, Magus didn't do any fighting, just dodged Elliot's punches and then just plainly stopped her fist with his hand. One on one, Magus does seem to be more skilled than Elliot, but yeah Elliot's got no real combat experience with Cheerleadra and she never had considered she would ever need her ASMA training in the air.

I understood why Elliot wasn't able to stand against Tara, but Magus is human and is not flying around or anything, and neither does Elliot. They both just hover in place. That doesn't seem THAT much different from what Elliot WAS training.

36 minutes ago, Douglas said:

Magus was trained by an institution with centuries of experience behind it where his teachers knew exactly what they were doing, got a bunch of spells taught to him by said institution which specifically selected them for being the ones that centuries of experience proved the most effective, and has practiced all kinds of combat-by-magic (including combat while flying) as part of his regular school curriculum.

He did NOT used any spell. And he's speaking as if dodging Elliot's punches wouldn't even require any effort from him.

I would expect that he would eventually be able to defeat Elliot. But outclassing him this much seems weird.

35 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Strength might have advantages in some situations

The "clap" is mostly about strength.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
21 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

I understood why Elliot wasn't able to stand against Tara, but Magus is human and is not flying around or anything, and neither does Elliot. They both just hover in place. That doesn't seem THAT much different from what Elliot WAS training.

He did NOT used any spell. And he's speaking as if dodging Elliot's punches wouldn't even require any effort from him.

I would expect that he would eventually be able to defeat Elliot. But outclassing him this much seems weird.

The "clap" is mostly about strength.

He's dodging Elliot's punches by moving around in midair. That involves skill with precise rapid flight-based movement, and so do Elliot's attempts to punch him without standing on the ground.

Also, for all we know Magus could be using any number of non-visible self-enhancement spells to boost his strength and reflexes, give him combat precognition, and/or all sorts of other stuff. I'd expect that sort of thing to be standard issue in battle mage school, and Magus mentioned "magic strength boosts" on Friday (even if only to say that they're relative to base form strength) so such things definitely do exist in his universe.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I did not foresee that they are now outside*, but I see that Elliot's right arm looks like it is just waving up and down. :demonicduck:

"Wa", "we", "wi", "wo", "wu", nothing denotes "transform you". 

30 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

The "clap" is mostly about strength.

Coordination.

(*- ok, only if Friday me saw that light post)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Elliot I think had stopped listening by then - that was for our benefit alone.

I'm actually surprised there's no homophobia - Magus's comment about Nanase had me thinking they were basically Pakistan.  Then again, since if he had his druthers Ellen would also be a man...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
28 minutes ago, Douglas said:

Also, for all we know Magus could be using any number of non-visible self-enhancement spells to boost his strength and reflexes, give him combat precognition, and/or all sorts of other stuff. I'd expect that sort of thing to be standard issue in battle mage school, and Magus mentioned "magic strength boosts" on Friday (even if only to say that they're relative to base form strength) so such things definitely do exist in his universe.

We didn't saw him cast anything, he was surprised by Elliot, and while it would make sense to have something prepared for fight with Sirleck, he wouldn't risk having ANYTHING cast on himself because it could interfere with dewitchery diamond.

On the other hand, we didn't saw him casting flying either.

10 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

The reaction Magus drew from Elliot is a good example of why you should not take short cuts when you are in a hurry.  If anything goes wrong, you end up even farther behind.

... speaking about getting more behind, what do you think Ashley is currently doing? Did she also jumped to conclusion?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, Stature said:

"Wa", "we", "wi", "wo", "wu", nothing denotes "transform you". 

Before Magus had even started on that syllable, Elliot had already made the decision to transform and attack. In the heat of the moment it most likely came across as a nonsense sound.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yay for speed-lines background in panel one!

...That's all I have to say.

Edit: Actually, I thought of something else. Sister III is really the conjunction of several plotlines; we've already seen a climax in Pandroa's story and the "Magic Change" plot-line, but the Magus-getting-his-own-body plot and this chapter in particular needs a climax too. The actual moment of Magus getting his body didn't feel like it to me, Sirleck's demise was satisfying but anticlimactic, and now this "battle" has been anticlimactic too.

At this point, I think our most likely chances for a climax are an emotional one with Ellen confronting the possibility of being male, or a battle between Magus and Government Agents (possibly with Elliot & Ellen now on his side and/or with artifacts activating). I'm a bit torn as to which I would prefer. On the one hand it would seem odd for everyone to leave the facility without the Chechov's Gun of the artifacts firing, and it might be nice to end Sister III (not counting any epilogues) with a proper battle. On the other hand, an emotional climax could probably be told in less pages and Sister III is plenty long enough as-is, and Dan's fight scenes are rarely particularly impressive anyway.

Edited by ChronosCat

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, hkmaly said:

I understood why Elliot wasn't able to stand against Tara, but Magus is human and is not flying around or anything, and neither does Elliot. They both just hover in place. That doesn't seem THAT much different from what Elliot WAS training.

The second panel has Magus flying backwards to keep away from Elliot's first punch, but then he just dodges back and forth in the third panel. It still matters though because Elliot doesn't have proper footing to be able to adjust, in order for the punch to really count, there's gotta be momentum behind it so when she takes a swing in mid air she's committed to it which could leave her vulnerable. Magus would have had some flying combat training during the battlemage classes so he'd have a clear advantage over Elliot here. Nanase's a better airborne fighter than Elliot by a longshot but she might still be lacking if Magus' claim that he's more powerful is true.

If it's straight up hand to hand, and no magic (aside from flight) then maybe it'd be equal footing with Nanase.

 

And now, Dan's posted this on Reddit:

So while Memory of Dan isn't perfect, there's a possibility that Magus might have been referring to Ellen with the "you would so be a man" line, rather than Nanase.

And it does make sense for that considering what Magus has said these past few pages.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, The Old Hack said:

Having had time to digest, it seems I owe Magus an apology. If he never intended to change Ellen without her consent, my anger against him loses most if not all of its basis.

He might have initially intended it, but with Elliot having objections, probably felt that Ellen could prove it for him.

Magus is still misguided in what he believed about Ellen, but at least he's trying to be reasonable.

And Ellen will probably give him a good knock to the jaw. "You want to make up for what you put me through?" *POW!* "Now we're even."

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

From the beginning, Pandora warned that Magus was going to be a hawk and our world's mages would be mice.  And Magus seems about the same age as Elliot, so a high school student, potentially a very talented student, is more than a match for our world's magic users.  So his world's magic outclasses ours and is usable in our world.

Once the issue with Ellen is resolved, he plans to go back to his home universe, which would suggest he, or someone else, could return.

Now, once Elliot's world has a few centuries of magic being out in the open, we might see less difference in power, but this situation does open up a potential can of worms if someone in Magus's world learns of Elliot's world and is unscrupulous.  Magical invasion?

I had hoped that something would prove a limiter to Magus' ability in a different universe, or that travel between universe's would be difficult and fraught with peril or "Only able to be done this one time for plot reasons!"

Cause frankly, once Arthur or Edward learn the details, figuring out a defense from the mages of Magus' universe would be fairly high priority (okay, not as high as dealing with magic coming out of the closet).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
16 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Having had time to digest, it seems I owe Magus an apology. If he never intended to change Ellen without her consent, my anger against him loses most if not all of its basis.

Yeah, same here.  Still on the edge about him however.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

New perspective on the past few pages, Magus might not have come into this intending on "Fixing" Ellen, like, he had no clue how he would atone for her creation and the things he's done to get his body back. Elliot and Ashley questioning Magus' choice of becoming male though (or rather Magus' interpretation that they were questioning it) right then and there decided that would be the way to atone. That's the only other way I can see Magus going from "she'll be asleep for a few hours" to "I'd rather not do it this way".

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think what Dan is trying to show in Panel three  is that Elliot is punching right-left-right-left and Magus is dodging punches by swaying left-right-left-right. What would be better here is animation... and, of course, the Benny Hill version of Yakety Sax.

On the other hand, stopping a punch by actually palming the fist is a move that looks awesomely cool.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
20 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

I think what Dan is trying to show in Panel three  is that Elliot is punching right-left-right-left and Magus is dodging punches by swaying left-right-left-right. What would be better here is animation... and, of course, the Benny Hill version of Yakety Sax.

On the other hand, stopping a punch by actually palming the fist is a move that looks awesomely cool.

Stopping a cheerleadra punch surprised me.  I didn't think Magus was that good in his default state.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Vorlonagent said:

Stopping a cheerleadra punch surprised me.  I didn't think Magus was that good in his default state.

Yes, it looks cool. Whether or not it Magus could handle one of Nanase's fairy punches--or one of her normal punches--or one of Ellen's zaps may be quite a different matter. It might be good to remember that Magus was using that potion to restore his energy in order to resist one of Terra's zaps, and that was just a sparring match.

And for some reason I'm thinking of a song from Mulan right now...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

It might be good to remember that Magus was using that potion to restore his energy in order to resist one of Terra's zaps, and that was just a sparring match.

The shield label suggests either resistance buff or it was supposed to activate a a shield similar to the one we saw Terra using, we don't know if he was supposed to literally consume the contents or if breaking the seal was enough. Considering the timing, I would think that it'd be faster if breaking the seal was enough to activate it over consuming the contents, especially when there's a giant lazor beam coming at you.

20070101_9zEv_2.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this