Friday, October 11, 2019

[hkmaly 490]

13 hours ago, Scotty said:

On 10/13/2019 at 3:00 AM, hkmaly said:

NEXT page shows Pandora discussing with Susan and Adrian. Someone might've noticed that. And some people with camera phones are stupid enough to risk more than professional war reporters. And frankly, I'm not exactly sure that Dan wanted to draw more bystanders than absolutely necessary ...

19 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

I'm under the impression that Dan didn't want to draw any more fleeing bystanders that didn't have anything to contribute to the story in his head at the time.

I feel like if there were people crazy enough to stick around to see the whole event, then there would like have been some that would even stay to tell reporters, the news Sarah and other people read should have reflected that.

Not necessarily ... and they might not be interviewed if they didn't sound coherent enough or put too much of "hello mum I'm in TV".

19 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Anyway, the second incident in the Moperville Mall in less than a week should have drawn a lot of police, media, and lookie-loos, and Dan could pull all sorts of plot points  from that premise if he wants to at any time.

Yes. Or, well, not, although I would really like to see some of that.

There were already multiple cases when Dan used some uncertainties in past stories to build new story from. For example, the doll Nanase left in school turned out to be important as a clue for Charlotte ... but it could've just as easily disappear.

So, we won't be sure how much of that incident was filmed and who saw that until it turns out in future story.

I still think that Charlotte is informed about it better than Sarah.

10 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

On 10/12/2019 at 10:10 PM, hkmaly said:

Actually, I wouldn't say "plenty". Charlotte and Noah, who else? Hmmm ... maybe Liz or Lucy, but that feels even more remote.

And both Luke and Sam have issues. Sam doesn't seem to be capable of opening anytime soon and Luke is likely still keeping the existence of other groups he's part of secret from Justin.

He's well behind Rhoda and Catalina, but I suspect that Noah will one day be part of the main cast. In fact, between the big deal Dan made of him when he was introduced, and the fact that he was made to be Elliot's friend, I suspect that Dan has always intended him to become a major character if not one of the main group, it just hasn't worked out that way (yet).

Yes, this has all signs of "being in plan for long time, didn't expected it will take so long to get to it".

10 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

Charlotte has all the makings of an important character, particularly if we get more focus on Ellen and Nanase's adventures.

This may be big "if". Ellen and Nanase's adventures might be excellent NP material if there weren't lot of even better NP material available.

If Dan ever finishes "main story of EGS" (which he probably wouldn't, as there is no single story to finish), he would have easily ten times more material for sidestories.

11 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

Liz seems okay being outside the group, but between how much she cares about Ashley and her having been implied to have magic, I expect her to get more focus in the future, and after that who knows.

She basically ONLY gets more focus AND chance to get into group WHEN it will be revealed she has magic and what magic it is.

11 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

If Diane and Rhoda are both main characters, it would be strange for Lucy to be left out; besides, romantic partners have a tendency to be drawn into the main group (or at least it worked that way with Ashley).

Luke and Sam are on my list because they are in relationships with main characters. But yes, they're nowhere near ready to be main characters; this is why I specified they would be candidates if the relationships got serious (if the relationships get serious they will likely get  lot more panel time and spend more time with the current main characters, but if the relationships don't go anywhere I expect them to fade out of the narrative once their plotlines are complete).

So far, the relationships worked that way, and with Luke and Sam having magic it can continue to work ... but on the other hand, the group is harder to manage the bigger it is.

11 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

Other characters I can think of off the top of my head that I expect to get more panel time and who might far in the future become main characters (or at least get their own storyline) are Rhea, Akiko, and (together) Kitty & Felix.

Akiko is prime "next generation" material. Her chance to appear in comics is right next to chance to see Nanase and Ellen's child. It would sure be nice but unless the research in immortality gets major progress Dan doesn't have much chance to live so long.

Rhea doesn't seem important.

Kitty and Felix might get NP story but probably not more. There are already people closer to main cast with similar powers.

But even if they all would appear, it's still ... 8. Doesn't seem like "plenty".

11 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

(And also the Germahn Labs crew, but besides a few cameos we haven't even seen them in canon yet.)

Germahn Labs crew is older generation. In fact, based on the only canon note about them we have, they might be even older than Verres and other parents.

6 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

On 10/12/2019 at 3:53 AM, hkmaly said:

It's hard to compare who is closer friend. It's definitely not just about the time spent together. Also, Grace might evaluated who's closer friend differently than Rhoda would.

Granted, it's difficult to read the minds of fictional characters, and there is no canonical statement, but pre-change Diane was openly bitchy, and Grace has always been empathetic and friendly to pretty much everyone. Diane has know Rhoda for a while, but not a long while; a few years. There was some friction in their clique, and Rhoda was the only partially included one. Diane was condescending the few times we've seen them interact; Grace doesn't do that.

It's not clear how much time Rhoda spent with Diane (and Lucy), but conjecture says, apparently not much outside of school; they didn't comment that she spent less time with them when she started tutoring or got a girlfriend. The length of tutoring sessions is also indeterminate, it could vary by an order of magnitude from around twenty minutes to a a couple of hours. Given the investment in travel time, probably more like at least an hour. We also don't know the frequency, but I'm going to assume a minimum of one a week. That's a solid hour or so of close face time in a non-judgemental setting to develop some sort of rapport. There is some evidence in their few casual encounters that they enjoy these sessions and look forward to seeing each other. I would conjecture that is not merely for the sake of the material being studied. Also, the tutoring has been going on for over one school year, a significant fraction of the time Diane has known Rhoda, and probably beyond the need to continuing tutoring, given Grace and Rhoda's abilities (Rhoda is a talented magic user who has trained herself by experimentation, not a shabby feat).

Do I know for sure that Grace is closer to Rhoda than Diane is? No. Do I have reason to believe she is? Yes.

Your argumentation sounds solid. However, I would add that WE saw more about the friction in their clique than Grace has (unless Rhoda was talking about it, and I don't think she's such type, based on how she kept her relationship with Catalina separate from Diane ...). So, I would still consider reasonable to assume Grace is underestimating her friendship with Rhoda or overestimating Diane's.

Or, she might just want multiple angles.

 

[ChronosCat 155]

11 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Not necessarily ... and they might not be interviewed if they didn't sound coherent enough or put too much of "hello mum I'm in TV"

Out of curiosity, do you normally say "in TV" in your area/language? I've only ever heard it phrased "on TV" in American English... Though actually, given what it looks like, "in" does make more sense.

11 hours ago, hkmaly said:

... but on the other hand, the group is harder to manage the bigger it is.

I'm not sure how aware of that Dan is, but it clearly isn't enough to stop him from giving characters that ought to be side characters tons of development, to the point where some of them border on being main characters themselves. I'm not saying this expansion of the cast is a good thing, I'm just predicting what seems most likely based on Dan's writing style.

11 hours ago, hkmaly said:

But even if they all would appear, it's still ... 8. Doesn't seem like "plenty".

I'd call eight "plenty" (particularly as Dan has a hard enough time juggling the current 8)...

Also, I didn't actually work out what characters were potential main character candidates when I made that statement; I based my statement on the fact that that there have been a lot of times over the years where it's seemed to me like I was looking at a potential future main character or at least important supporting character. Some of those times were probably for the same characters. And some of those characters don't seem like main character candidates any more (for instance, after the way things ended between Justin and Melissa, it would cause too much friction to bring her into the group, and it's been so long since we've seen Grace's siblings they'll need a re-introduction just to return to important supporting character status).

[hkmaly 490]

11 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

23 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Not necessarily ... and they might not be interviewed if they didn't sound coherent enough or put too much of "hello mum I'm in TV"

Out of curiosity, do you normally say "in TV" in your area/language? I've only ever heard it phrased "on TV" in American English... Though actually, given what it looks like, "in" does make more sense.

Yes, although thinking about it, I've usually heard it phrased "on TV" in English ...

11 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

23 hours ago, hkmaly said:

... but on the other hand, the group is harder to manage the bigger it is.

I'm not sure how aware of that Dan is, but it clearly isn't enough to stop him from giving characters that ought to be side characters tons of development, to the point where some of them border on being main characters themselves. I'm not saying this expansion of the cast is a good thing, I'm just predicting what seems most likely based on Dan's writing style.

Well, he might be aware but unable to stop himself

11 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

23 hours ago, hkmaly said:

But even if they all would appear, it's still ... 8. Doesn't seem like "plenty".

I'd call eight "plenty" (particularly as Dan has a hard enough time juggling the current 8)...

... true, from this angle it would be plenty ...

11 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

Also, I didn't actually work out what characters were potential main character candidates when I made that statement; I based my statement on the fact that that there have been a lot of times over the years where it's seemed to me like I was looking at a potential future main character or at least important supporting character. Some of those times were probably for the same characters. And some of those characters don't seem like main character candidates any more (for instance, after the way things ended between Justin and Melissa, it would cause too much friction to bring her into the group, and it's been so long since we've seen Grace's siblings they'll need a re-introduction just to return to important supporting character status).

Melissa never looked to be on path to main character to me. Grace's siblings, well, maybe ... we still don't know who's Greg girlfriend don't we?