• 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!
The Old Hack

Story Wednesday July 25, 2018

Recommended Posts

Why the disguise? (Reading commentary) Watches are not ready yet? I though Tedd is able to make them in minutes ...

Aaand, seems Ellen either doesn't have enough information about how Magus will get Sirleck's money or she's not experienced enough to know what to do with such information ...

(Also, Ellen has as high opinion about Magus's abilities as I do for the same reasons ... which doesn't necessary mean our opinion is correct of course, but it does make it more likely.)

22 minutes ago, partner555 said:

Holy crap! After all this time, Kaoli is coming!

To be fair, Ellen has even less information about Kaoli coming than we have. But apparently her experience with magic makes her believe narrative convenience will make her arrive soon, and surprisingly Dan implies she's right.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

OVERDUE IS RIGHT, ELLEN! I've been waiting for that since I first started reading this thing! (which was New and Old Flames 6, by the way)

Seriously, I think this is literally the first time they've referenced Kaoli since Grace's birthday party. (referencing the second life in general doesn't count)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Amazing disguise.

Right up there with holding a big sign that reads "Don't Look At Me!"
If this works, it can only mean that she has actually paid attention to the camouflage lessons of Edward Verres.

Either that, or Les Immortels have been giving fashion advice.
Speaking of whom, I am hoping we'll find out where those two have been before the break.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
55 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Amazing disguise.

Right up there with holding a big sign that reads "Don't Look At Me!"

Big talk from the Pharaoh from the kingdom that thought the perfect disguise was to wear a huge golden mask with the face of a beagle on it.

Or was that an eagle?

Share this post


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

Why the disguise? (Reading commentary) Watches are not ready yet? I though Tedd is able to make them in minutes ...

She might have called Tedd first, and just needs to swing by to pick them up, but she's meeting with Charlotte first. Or maybe she'll grab em Monday morning when she picks up Grace for school.

Just now, hkmaly said:

Aaand, seems Ellen either doesn't have enough information about how Magus will get Sirleck's money or she's not experienced enough to know what to do with such information ...

She might not be capable of getting to Magus anyway if he's no longer in Moperville, though it's also possible that she wasn't able to learn exactly where the money was stashes and how to get it. might have been a fleeting thought from just before Magus touched the diamond and Sirleck was thinking about the next step after taking possession of Magus.

Just now, hkmaly said:

To be fair, Ellen has even less information about Kaoli coming than we have. But apparently her experience with magic makes her believe narrative convenience will make her arrive soon, and surprisingly Dan implies she's right.

Ellen believes that the main reason Nioi chose Ellen to share the experience with Kaoli was because Kaoli would at some point go to the main universe (or Ellen in Lord Tedd's) and would need a familiar contact. It's been like 10 months since those dreams with Kaoli and since Ellen has no idea how to get to Lord Tedd's universe, she would of course be expecting Kaoli to be the one to make contact in the main universe.

 

Oh, forgot to mention this since I had said it on Discord as well:

I wonder if the Magus Saga will overlap with Lord Tedd's arc when Dan gets around to it, I mean mentioning Kaoli as someone that could help Magus get back to his own universe certainly sounds like there's potential for Magus to get involved in making things right with Lord Tedd.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, in case anyone read the comic shortly after it was posted and hasn't been back to the main page yet, it should be mentioned that Dan edited the comic to make it more clear it's Ellen.

I have to admit, until I scrolled down past the first row of panels I entertained the possibility Charlotte was giving a report on spooky activities to Duck for some reason, but even without the caption identifying Ellen I figured out who she was pretty quickly - if nothing else, I thought what she was saying made it pretty obvious. Still, I find it amusing that Ellen's disguise actually fooled some people.

6 hours ago, Zorua said:

OVERDUE IS RIGHT, ELLEN! I've been waiting for that since I first started reading this thing! (which was New and Old Flames 6, by the way)

Seriously, I think this is literally the first time they've referenced Kaoli since Grace's birthday party. (referencing the second life in general doesn't count)

While it would be nice to make some progress on the Lord Tedd and Company plot thread, I'm actually not looking forward to the meeting between Ellen and Kaoli. With Second Life just being memories, they haven't actually had a chance to get to know each other, and in many respects haven't actually met at all - it's more like they just happened to "watch" the same immersive 3D "movie" at the same time. Ellen has a much different personality than SL Ellen, and I'm sure Kaoli isn't the same as SL Kaoli either (though the question arises as to whether she's more similar to either Naoi or SL Kaoli, or if she found her own path). I worry that one or both of them will be disappointed to learn that the other is really a stranger to them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

Ellen has a much different personality than SL Ellen

Even before the second life dreams, Ellen was shown to be just as impulsive, case in point, her spontaneous decision to include Susan in movie night with Justin and Nanase wasn't unlike SL Ellen bringing SL Tedd into the kickball game. So I think there is enough similarity in personality between them.

Of course her experiencing SL Ellen's 18 years had an affect on how she did things, like her dreams started a day after Ellen found out that Nanase was gay so she certainly was taking the stuff that happen between SL Ellen and Archie as "what not to do when pursuing a relationship" as well as helped her define what she wanted to be.

As for Kaoli though, we don't know enough about Nioi to know if Kaoli is any different from her or not, Ellen wanted to be different from Elliot, Kaoli might have opted to continue going as Nioi was which would mean the only difference between them is appearance and name.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Amazing disguise.

Right up there with holding a big sign that reads "Don't Look At Me!"
If this works, it can only mean that she has actually paid attention to the camouflage lessons of Edward Verres.

Either that, or Les Immortels have been giving fashion advice.
Speaking of whom, I am hoping we'll find out where those two have been before the break.

It worked for readers. And frankly, while it's obvious it's someone disguised, in combination with different hair color, people may not guess Ellen.

9 hours ago, Scotty said:
16 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Why the disguise? (Reading commentary) Watches are not ready yet? I though Tedd is able to make them in minutes ...

She might have called Tedd first, and just needs to swing by to pick them up, but she's meeting with Charlotte first. Or maybe she'll grab em Monday morning when she picks up Grace for school.

Maybe, but it's sort of ... she spent some effort on this disguise while she could just go to Tedd first ... it's not like Charlotte was on the way or something, was it?

9 hours ago, Scotty said:
16 hours ago, hkmaly said:

To be fair, Ellen has even less information about Kaoli coming than we have. But apparently her experience with magic makes her believe narrative convenience will make her arrive soon, and surprisingly Dan implies she's right.

Ellen believes that the main reason Nioi chose Ellen to share the experience with Kaoli was because Kaoli would at some point go to the main universe (or Ellen in Lord Tedd's) and would need a familiar contact. It's been like 10 months since those dreams with Kaoli and since Ellen has no idea how to get to Lord Tedd's universe, she would of course be expecting Kaoli to be the one to make contact in the main universe.

10 months is not that long.

9 hours ago, Scotty said:

I wonder if the Magus Saga will overlap with Lord Tedd's arc when Dan gets around to it, I mean mentioning Kaoli as someone that could help Magus get back to his own universe certainly sounds like there's potential for Magus to get involved in making things right with Lord Tedd.

... or making things even worse with Lord Tedd.

Of course, there IS potential for overlap ... especially considering Lord Tedd might target Terra for same reason he target Tedd.

6 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

I worry that one or both of them will be disappointed to learn that the other is really a stranger to them.

29 minutes ago, Scotty said:
6 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

Ellen has a much different personality than SL Ellen

Even before the second life dreams, Ellen was shown to be just as impulsive, case in point, her spontaneous decision to include Susan in movie night with Justin and Nanase wasn't unlike SL Ellen bringing SL Tedd into the kickball game. So I think there is enough similarity in personality between them.

Of course her experiencing SL Ellen's 18 years had an affect on how she did things, like her dreams started a day after Ellen found out that Nanase was gay so she certainly was taking the stuff that happen between SL Ellen and Archie as "what not to do when pursuing a relationship" as well as helped her define what she wanted to be.

As for Kaoli though, we don't know enough about Nioi to know if Kaoli is any different from her or not, Ellen wanted to be different from Elliot, Kaoli might have opted to continue going as Nioi was which would mean the only difference between them is appearance and name.

There would definitely be differences, but it might feel more like when you used to know someone, then you didn't saw him for five or ten years ... he will change, YOU will change, but there would still be feeling that you used to know him.

Also, it's not like Nioi could do better.

 

Share this post


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

Of course, there IS potential for overlap ... especially considering Lord Tedd might target Terra for same reason he target Tedd.

One might think that Lord Tedd was the cause of Magus being sent into limbo, if he was as much an obstacle to get to Terra as Elliot and Ellen were to get to Tedd, but then it's been nearly 3 years that Terra would have been fending off attacks and maybe the potential for Lord Tedd to have succeeded which would not bode well if Magus learned of that, especially since Dan has hinted that the whole Lord Tedd thing is more complicated that it seems.

Alternatively, Terra could have been defending herself long enough to learn how to take the fight to Lord Tedd's universe and Magus and Terra would have their reunion there.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 minutes ago, Scotty said:
3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Of course, there IS potential for overlap ... especially considering Lord Tedd might target Terra for same reason he target Tedd.

One might think that Lord Tedd was the cause of Magus being sent into limbo, if he was as much an obstacle to get to Terra as Elliot and Ellen were to get to Tedd, but then it's been nearly 3 years that Terra would have been fending off attacks and maybe the potential for Lord Tedd to have succeeded which would not bode well if Magus learned of that, especially since Dan has hinted that the whole Lord Tedd thing is more complicated that it seems.

Depends on what Lord Tedd consider success. We are still not sure what is his objective. We are also not sure what Edward was doing against him and if Lord Tedd was trying to make another attack at our Tedd ... and if yes, who blocked it, and if not, why not?

5 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Alternatively, Terra could have been defending herself long enough to learn how to take the fight to Lord Tedd's universe and Magus and Terra would have their reunion there.

Or Terra would ALLY with Lord Tedd meanwhile and she and Magus would end up standing against each other for real this time. Improbable? Maybe ... but impossible? Lord Tedd might be able to "corrupt" her or he convinces her with the same stuff which he was convinced with (which may or may not be lie fabricated by general Shade Tail.)

Or maybe they wouldn't be standing against each other because our Tedd (and therefore our Ellen and Elliot) would ALSO ally with Lord Tedd.

There is lot of possibilities. On the other hand, we had years for speculation. It's likely we WOULD be able to come up with something more complicated than what Dan plans. Maybe I just did.

Share this post


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

Depends on what Lord Tedd consider success. We are still not sure what is his objective. We are also not sure what Edward was doing against him and if Lord Tedd was trying to make another attack at our Tedd ... and if yes, who blocked it, and if not, why not?

Or Terra would ALLY with Lord Tedd meanwhile and she and Magus would end up standing against each other for real this time. Improbable? Maybe ... but impossible? Lord Tedd might be able to "corrupt" her or he convinces her with the same stuff which he was convinced with (which may or may not be lie fabricated by general Shade Tail.)

Or maybe they wouldn't be standing against each other because our Tedd (and therefore our Ellen and Elliot) would ALSO ally with Lord Tedd.

There is lot of possibilities. On the other hand, we had years for speculation. It's likely we WOULD be able to come up with something more complicated than what Dan plans. Maybe I just did.

The Lord Tedd plot started with basically 2 attempts to kill our Tedd, Beta Tedd warned that Lord Tedd was trying to kill ALL Tedds (that should include Terra). We saw that Lord Tedd was not happy with the goo cell's failure, but the next time we saw Lord Tedd, he didn't seem all that threatening. Then we hear from Nioi that General Shade Tail is the one manipulating Lord Tedd. If Terra went after Lord Tedd, she'd of course have to get past General Shade Tail, same would go for Magus. The main 8 seem to be the only ones that suspect there's more to Lord Tedd based on what limited info Nioi gave Grace and possibly Ellen. Kaoli would probably be key to filling in the rest, but it's basically General Shade Tail that would need to be taken out or at least get Lord Tedd to see the truth about General Shade Tail.

So allying with Lord Tedd is a possibility for all, but more likely against General Shade Tail.

Share this post


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

One might think that Lord Tedd was the cause of Magus being sent into limbo, if he was as much an obstacle to get to Terra as Elliot and Ellen were to get to Tedd, but then it's been nearly 3 years that Terra would have been fending off attacks and maybe the potential for Lord Tedd to have succeeded which would not bode well if Magus learned of that, especially since Dan has hinted that the whole Lord Tedd thing is more complicated that it seems.

Alternatively, Terra could have been defending herself long enough to learn how to take the fight to Lord Tedd's universe and Magus and Terra would have their reunion there.

32 minutes ago, Scotty said:

The Lord Tedd plot started with basically 2 attempts to kill our Tedd

The Goo was really just one attempt on Lord Tedd's part, though - Elliot just failed to defeat it so it tried again. Assuming Mr. Verres and/or his allies haven't fended off any new attacks off-panel, that means that about a year has passed with Lord Tedd making no further attempts to "kill weak Tedd" (in the Goo's words). I suspect he may not actually bother to make more than one attempt on each Tedd.

Incidentally, this seems like a good time to mention once again my theory that Lord Tedd isn't trying to kill his alternate selves at all, so much as make them stronger (or at least make sure they have strong friends). (Of course, that's not inconsistent with the idea of Lord Tedd being responsible for what happened to Magus, particularly if the goal is to make Tedds strong without their allies.)

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Scotty said:
2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

There is lot of possibilities. On the other hand, we had years for speculation. It's likely we WOULD be able to come up with something more complicated than what Dan plans. Maybe I just did.

The Lord Tedd plot started with basically 2 attempts to kill our Tedd, Beta Tedd warned that Lord Tedd was trying to kill ALL Tedds (that should include Terra). We saw that Lord Tedd was not happy with the goo cell's failure, but the next time we saw Lord Tedd, he didn't seem all that threatening. Then we hear from Nioi that General Shade Tail is the one manipulating Lord Tedd. If Terra went after Lord Tedd, she'd of course have to get past General Shade Tail, same would go for Magus. The main 8 seem to be the only ones that suspect there's more to Lord Tedd based on what limited info Nioi gave Grace and possibly Ellen. Kaoli would probably be key to filling in the rest, but it's basically General Shade Tail that would need to be taken out or at least get Lord Tedd to see the truth about General Shade Tail.

So allying with Lord Tedd is a possibility for all, but more likely against General Shade Tail.

I agree it's more likely, but the possibility that General Shade Tail convinces more people that there is some good reason for that course of action - like, some sort of worse enemy for example - is more interesting, no matter if that reason would be true or not.

26 minutes ago, ChronosCat said:

The Goo was really just one attempt on Lord Tedd's part, though - Elliot just failed to defeat it so it tried again. Assuming Mr. Verres and/or his allies haven't fended off any new attacks off-panel, that means that about a year has passed with Lord Tedd making no further attempts to "kill weak Tedd" (in the Goo's words). I suspect he may not actually bother to make more than one attempt on each Tedd.

Incidentally, this seems like a good time to mention once again my theory that Lord Tedd isn't trying to kill his alternate selves at all, so much as make them stronger (or at least make sure they have strong friends). (Of course, that's not inconsistent with the idea of Lord Tedd being responsible for what happened to Magus, particularly if the goal is to make Tedds strong without their allies.)

I'm not sure if I presented it independently or just agreed with you, but that "Kill weak Tedd" definitely looks suspiciously specific. The Goo could easily be more like test than serious attempt at Tedd's life ... although, failing the test might be fatal. I mean, it wasn't THAT dangerous ...

There is also more complicated option: Lord Tedd is convinced he needs to test all Tedds. General Shade Tail is secretly sabotaging them to raise chance they will fail. In such case, it would be general Shade Tail who sabotaged Magus, BECAUSE it would make Lord Tedd's test harder for Terra.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yay!  Now she just has to wait to be reunited with the accidental creation of the... (the word I'v thought of is unwise)... henchwoman... of the dictator who came within centimeters of skewering her and her girlfriend's brains to a wall!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

 

There is also more complicated option: Lord Tedd is convinced he needs to test all Tedds. General Shade Tail is secretly sabotaging them to raise chance they will fail. In such case, it would be general Shade Tail who sabotaged Magus, BECAUSE it would make Lord Tedd's test harder for Terra.

 

The only hole I see with the "test the other Tedds" hypothesis is that Lord Tedd reacted with anger to the report that the goo cell had been destroyed. This implies that such an outcome did not further his goals.

Share this post


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

The only hole I see with the "test the other Tedds" hypothesis is that Lord Tedd reacted with anger to the report that the goo cell had been destroyed. This implies that such an outcome did not further his goals.

Yes, but it was Ellen who destroyed the Goo cell, not Tedd. If Tedd had destroyed it, LT might have been satisfied.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 7/25/2018 at 4:10 AM, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Amazing disguise.

Right up there with holding a big sign that reads "Don't Look At Me!"

Or a T-shirt that reads, "I'M INVISIBLE" on the front and "HA HA YOU CAN'T SEE ME," on the back....

Quote

Either that, or Les Immortels have been giving fashion advice.
Speaking of whom, I am hoping we'll find out where those two have been before the break.

No kidding!  What the heck has kept them off stage for so long, especially the mall attack that was specifically designed to draw those two in particular away from Elliot?

On 7/25/2018 at 0:46 AM, hkmaly said:

Why the disguise? (Reading commentary) Watches are not ready yet? I though Tedd is able to make them in minutes ...

Watch, singular, I would think.  She only listed one watch's worth of variations.

On 7/25/2018 at 0:46 AM, hkmaly said:

Aaand, seems Ellen either doesn't have enough information about how Magus will get Sirleck's money or she's not experienced enough to know what to do with such information ...

Or maybe she knows that it was a go-bag with ID, cash, etc. in it, and he's had plenty of time to get to it and disappear before she was even awake enough to think about following.

On 7/25/2018 at 0:46 AM, hkmaly said:

To be fair, Ellen has even less information about Kaoli coming than we have. But apparently her experience with magic makes her believe narrative convenience will make her arrive soon, and surprisingly Dan implies she's right.

It does seem odd that after almost a year, she'd still be expecting Kaoli to show up soon, rather than starting to give up on her.

Hmm, perhaps a "birthday" visit, at the one year anniversary of Ellen's creation?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, WR...S said:

Yay!  Now she just has to wait to be reunited with the accidental creation of the... (the word I'v thought of is unwise)... henchwoman... of the dictator who came within centimeters of skewering her and her girlfriend's brains to a wall!

I don't think she's objecting to the word "pet" general Shade Tail is using. At least not when it's general Shade Tail using it ... But she's using "servant".

13 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
15 hours ago, ijuin said:

The only hole I see with the "test the other Tedds" hypothesis is that Lord Tedd reacted with anger to the report that the goo cell had been destroyed. This implies that such an outcome did not further his goals.

Yes, but it was Ellen who destroyed the Goo cell, not Tedd. If Tedd had destroyed it, LT might have been satisfied.

Yes.

2 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:
Quote

Aaand, seems Ellen either doesn't have enough information about how Magus will get Sirleck's money or she's not experienced enough to know what to do with such information ...

Or maybe she knows that it was a go-bag with ID, cash, etc. in it, and he's had plenty of time to get to it and disappear before she was even awake enough to think about following.

Actually, considering she can't fly, she would have no chance to get to any place sooner than Magus even if Arthur wouldn't put her into sleep. So unless it's something where she can get some leads even when coming later ...

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Actually,  I wonder if Lord Tedd is trying to kill Seers. Being himself a Seer, he would probably assume that all Tedds are Seers, and would focus on killing them most of all.

The reason why I'm thinking about this is becauseTerra seems to be a standard wizard, not as Seer, so if my hunch is right, she  might not be targeted, or Lord Tedd would stop the attack if he realised she's not a Seer.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hmm, that's a thought. Lord Tedd might be trying to take control of Magic on a Multiverse-wide scale if he is after Seers in other universes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
18 hours ago, ijuin said:

Hmm, that's a thought. Lord Tedd might be trying to take control of Magic on a Multiverse-wide scale if he is after Seers in other universes.

I know of two precedents for something like this version of Lord Tedd.

The first was Mythadventuresa series of graphic novels by Phil Foglio, based on the novels by Robert Asprin and later continued by his widow Jody Lynn Nye. The big-time baddie of this one was a crazy wizard named Isstvan who kills off wizards and steals magic from other universes. Phil Foglio and his wife Kaja, of course, now have a webcomic, Girl Genius. I

The second was the TORG series, a roleplaying game featuring invasions of our world by several alternate universes at the same time. Basically this was a sort of cross-time Axis, with the Gaunt Man as the biggest baddie. There weren't any redeeming qualities in this villain. There were also a few novels, and the art was good. Now I'm a really old gaming grognard and I found this one interesting for awhile, but it didn't last all that long, and I doubt if it was ever on Dan's radar.

EGS is a lot more like Foglio than TORG, so I think any Lord Tedd arc is going to be more of a comedy than a tragedy. 

 

Share this post


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

The first was Mythadventuresa series of graphic novels by Phil Foglio, based on the novels by Robert Asprin and later continued by his widow Jody Lynn Nye. The big-time baddie of this one was a crazy wizard named Isstvan who kills off wizards and steals magic from other universes. Phil Foglio and his wife Kaja, of course, now have a webcomic, Girl Genius. I

... wait, that was official graphic novel and not just webcomics?

Anyway, the idea also reminds me one movie which wasn't exactly popular but Dan MIGHT saw him.

Personally, I think that number of universes is infinite so any similar attempt wouldn't have chance to succeed, however I don't think Dan was talking about number of universes yet ...

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