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The Old Hack

Story Friday April 13, 2018

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I honestly thought that Arthur would have called for complete lockdown rather than evacuation. though is Ashley screaming about the bigger FBI guns coming in, or are we finally seeing the result of the ancient artifacts activating?

 

Or maybe Abraham just walked in and startled her. ;)

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... yeah, good point, Terra usually beats him so it wouldn't prove anything ...

... aaaand artifact activated.

... aaaand Sybil really cared. Are all assistants in DGB secretly loving their bosses? (Also, yup: falling asleep in middle of work and not responding to attempts to wake IS worth calling ambulance ... and Will of Magic is lucky no seer was driving when it decided to ask for their opinions.)

And finally someone acknowledged that being able to spell that acronym is hard.

32 minutes ago, WR...S said:

I was sure when he said "Occam's razor" that the artifacts had activated and the staff had panicked.

Apparently, Arthur panicked pre-emptively.

25 minutes ago, Scotty said:

I honestly thought that Arthur would have called for complete lockdown rather than evacuation. though is Ashley screaming about the bigger FBI guns coming in, or are we finally seeing the result of the ancient artifacts activating?

"Complete lockdown" might take too long. Arthur might have some idea about what kinds of artifacts might be activating there and decided to do something safer (orbital bombardment comes in mind) or, well, thinks it's better to not risk the guard waiting there until the team who is actually equipped for this gets near.

And no, I don't think the team got there already. It's more likely the artifacts are activating - or, being already activated, now did something which Ashley noticed. I don't think Ashley would react this way to people, Abraham included. This is 9E scream and Sirlect got just 12E ... well, at least it's not worse than Sirleck.

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So I kind of figured the lights being on and whatnot was due to Arthur realizing the artifacts would be dangerous and calling the place up, but I'm surprised he thought of it quite that quickly. Also, the urgency he's issuing those orders with (and the fact that the guard had to get out of there) makes me suspect he is aware of what some of those previously dormant artifacts were supposed to do, and one or more can be particularly nasty.

Also, did Ashley accidentally set something off, or did the artifact(s) in question activate on its(their) own?

Random speculation: there was a really dangerous monster trapped in an artifact (and Arthur knew about it, hence the evacuation), and now Elliot and Magus will have to fight it together. It's the Giant Space Flea From (almost) Nowhere solution to giving Sister III it's final climax!

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50 minutes ago, ChronosCat said:

Also, did Ashley accidentally set something off, or did the artifact(s) in question activate on its(their) own?

Random speculation: there was a really dangerous monster trapped in an artifact (and Arthur knew about it, hence the evacuation), and now Elliot and Magus will have to fight it together. It's the Giant Space Flea From (almost) Nowhere solution to giving Sister III it's final climax!

Not so random.

Monster makes more sense than artifact ; it definitely must be something which is dangerous by itself. The guard was not warned to not activate anything, even accidentally - he was said to GET OUT OF THERE. Therefore, Ashley didn't need to do anything careless: it was supposed to start making problems even when only professional being present.

As for how why Arthur ordered it so fast and knew about it in first place? It might be something obvious; some sort of monster statue or guardian statue which was supposed to move but system change prevented it before ... and Arthur might've been already thinking about it here and making mental note "I need to do something with it immediately after waking up" ...

EDIT: Regarding fighting it together ... maybe Ashley will use some other artifact against it as well.

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1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

EDIT: Regarding fighting it together ... maybe Ashley will use some other artifact against it as well.

That... that has the potential to turn into a "Little old lady that swallowed a fly" type scenario real fast. :doom:

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3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

This is 9E scream and Sirlect got just 12E ... well, at least it's not worse than Sirleck.

A good point there. However, neither one is the record holder; that belongs to the 15E scream by Melissa here and recapitulated here. To be fair, both of Ashley's screams were spontaneous while Melissa needed to take a very deep breath before her scream.

 

4 hours ago, WR...S said:

I was sure when he said "Occam's razor" that the artifacts had activated and the staff had panicked.

Who said "Occam's razor" and when? Are you referring not to a central tenet of medieval Catholic philosophy espoused by William of Ockham but to an actual artifact known as Occam's Razor? (Perhaps it was stored next to Dorothy's shoes in the C.S Lewis wardrobe...)

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In the first panel Magus reveals that he is, at some level, aware of the contradictions in his cultural bias.
But a little thing like logic is not going to undo a lifetime of conditioned response.

What are the things Arthur think might happen that would warrant the evacuation?
What is the thing that is causing Ashley's reaction?
And what gives so many people in EGS the ability to flex their eyebrows through their bangs?

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1 hour ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

And what gives so many people in EGS the ability to flex their eyebrows through their bangs?

ONLY in EGS? Nah. It is a common disease amongst all comics.

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3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Who said "Occam's razor" and when?

If I remember correctly, Dan mentioned (possibly in a tweet) that Occam's Razor applied to the situation in the Facility.

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7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

As for how why Arthur ordered it so fast and knew about it in first place? It might be something obvious; some sort of monster statue or guardian statue which was supposed to move but system change prevented it before ... and Arthur might've been already thinking about it here and making mental note "I need to do something with it immediately after waking up" ...

Arthur doesn't need to believe that 1 artifact would warrant evacuating the facility, the entire building is filled with potentially dangerous artifacts, that's enough to make Arthur panic.

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3 hours ago, Stature said:

ONLY in EGS? Nah. It is a common disease amongst all comics.

It is a much milder offshoot of the more serious Youngblood's Disease. If the characters in your comic contract Youngblood's, it will totally destroy their irises and pupils, leaving only a white nothingness that makes it appear as if the sclera is obscuring everything. The main effects seem to be that your characters look really stupid and they also start to snarl all the time. (This may be somewhat understandable. If my vision got screwed over like that, it would probably put me in a bad mood, too.) Furthermore, because they lose the visual ability to keep track of their belongings, the characters start to wear massive amounts of pouches on their clothes so they can keep everything they think is important near at all times.

If it is left untreated, it will soon spread uncontrollably to every character in the comic. Worse yet, it makes the victims act completely irrationally as if there were no coherence or meaningful consequences to their actions. It is not uncommon for advanced cases to begin to carry improbably heavy weaponry and sociopathically kill anyone or anything that in even the slightest way impedes their illogical course of action. Approach sufferers with caution.

If you observe this begin to happen to anyone in your circle of friends or family, do not wait. Contact a professional penciler or inker immediately while there is still time. Don't let Youngblood's spread to more victims.

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I think it's worth mentioning that Magus admits that Terra is stronger than he is despite Terra being female. So Magus' belief that Terra's potential is wasted isn't in that he's worried that she wouldn't be good enough to be a battlemage, but that she could be the best battlemage if she changed to a male form.

In tabletop terms, would this make Magus a min-maxer?

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At first I was a little confused as to why Arthur ordered an emergency evacuation instead of a lockdown of the facility. Then I realized that the guard might not be trained for the kind of containment procedures that would be needed to properly secure the artifacts that are sitting around in unshielded, wooden crates. I imagine a proper containment team would require the skill, precision, and patience of a bomb squad. Especially with how many artifacts are in the building (each crate is at least one artifact and might be more if they packed multiple artifacts into each crate). Hopefully they have some documentation on what those artifacts are supposed to do(and have off-site copies of that documentation), as such would make the containment team's job easier/safer.

If that is the case, it's a little heartwarming that Arthur ordered the personnel to get to safety instead of locking the place down and waiting for the containment team to show up. Someone might sneak into the facility while it's unguarded, but he's done what he can to minimize risk to people.

10 hours ago, hkmaly said:

... yeah, good point, Terra usually beats him so it wouldn't prove anything ..

I'm not so sure it wouldn't prove anything. Magus and Elliot are alternate reality versions of each other, so theoretically they should have the same, or close to the same, potential. I understand there are a lot more variables in play, so it wouldn't completely prove Elliot's point, but it would lend evidence towards it.

5 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

What are the things Arthur think might happen that would warrant the evacuation?

Given how many previously inert artifacts are in the building, almost anything could happen. From summoning monstrosities from beyond space and time, to a massive slow-motion explosion, to teleporting the facility to the far side of the moon to almost anything else the imagination could come up with.

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17 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:
1 hour ago, Drasvin said:

to almost anything else the imagination could come up with.

Plus quite a few things it can't. Those are the ones I am really worried about.

But not time travel.

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3 hours ago, Drasvin said:

Given how many previously inert artifacts are in the building, almost anything could happen. From summoning monstrosities from beyond space and time, to a massive slow-motion explosion, to teleporting the facility to the far side of the moon to almost anything else the imagination could come up with.

Is that the side of the moon with the Judoon platoon?

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8 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

Is that the side of the moon with the Judoon platoon?

Noooooo. The entire Moperverse is a No Parking or Stopping zone for TARDISs and other time-travel-capable artifacts, including Deloreans and Enterprises. And Tedd is absolutely forbidden to transform anyone into a Scot.

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2 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
3 hours ago, Drasvin said:

to almost anything else the imagination could come up with.

Plus quite a few things it can't. Those are the ones I am really worried about.

I don't know, it seems to me it would have to be something Dan's imagination could come up with.

 

 

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13 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:
17 hours ago, hkmaly said:

This is 9E scream and Sirlect got just 12E ... well, at least it's not worse than Sirleck.

A good point there. However, neither one is the record holder; that belongs to the 15E scream by Melissa here and recapitulated here. To be fair, both of Ashley's screams were spontaneous while Melissa needed to take a very deep breath before her scream.

That is record for human ; however ... the Goo wins with 31E.

13 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:
17 hours ago, WR...S said:

I was sure when he said "Occam's razor" that the artifacts had activated and the staff had panicked.

Who said "Occam's razor" and when?

Dan - I think he was tweeting something commenting this page ...

8 hours ago, Scotty said:

Arthur doesn't need to believe that 1 artifact would warrant evacuating the facility, the entire building is filled with potentially dangerous artifacts, that's enough to make Arthur panic.

That's also possible of course, but the way he doesn't even think about it seems more like he has some specific in mind ... note that he was NOT mentioning any other place with artifacts - and I don't think all artifacts from previous magic systems are here, although probably most of them.

6 hours ago, Drasvin said:

At first I was a little confused as to why Arthur ordered an emergency evacuation instead of a lockdown of the facility. Then I realized that the guard might not be trained for the kind of containment procedures that would be needed to properly secure the artifacts that are sitting around in unshielded, wooden crates. I imagine a proper containment team would require the skill, precision, and patience of a bomb squad. Especially with how many artifacts are in the building (each crate is at least one artifact and might be more if they packed multiple artifacts into each crate). Hopefully they have some documentation on what those artifacts are supposed to do(and have off-site copies of that documentation), as such would make the containment team's job easier/safer.

Also, the proper containment team would need MUCH MORE firepower.

2 hours ago, ChronosCat said:
5 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
6 hours ago, Drasvin said:

to almost anything else the imagination could come up with.

Plus quite a few things it can't. Those are the ones I am really worried about.

I don't know, it seems to me it would have to be something Dan's imagination could come up with.

Not really. First, something can happen off-panel.  Second, Dan could ask for ideas on twitter/tumblr.

I think it would be easy to prove that multiple people brainstorming can come with something noone's imagination would be able to come up with alone.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

The entire Moperverse is a No Parking or Stopping zone for TARDISs and other time-travel-capable artifacts, including Deloreans and Enterprises.

Enterprise is not capable of time travel on her own, the borg sphere helped.

 

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