• 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  
hkmaly

Story Monday, Nov 11, 2019

Recommended Posts

http://egscomics.com/comic/party-086

Sooo, Tedd guessed she won't be able to get Diane to test the wand without instructions by just telling her to do it, so she did major distraction instead, hoping Diane would be so impatient she tries something? Because seriously this was predictable.

Also, Tedd, I though you can make permanent transformations now? But you may be right with temporary enchantments. In fact, wearing glasses ALSO makes your sight worsen. At least incorrect one as child. .... ok, reading internet it seems mostly as misconception. On the other hand, it just supports that Tedd would THINK temporary enchantments will worsen her sight.

BTW, on reddit I found person claiming their eyes got from 20/20 to needing glasses in just two months.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

There is a weird absence of Ashley, Nanase, and Susan, who were sitting and standing around that same couch seconds ago.

Not all that weird. Nanase was last seen sitting on Ellen's right (stage left) and Panel Five crops her off to make room for Diane in Panel Four. Susan was last seen facing away from everyone else after Diane did that cheerleader move. And Ashley... I don't have a real clue. But none of Nanase,  Susan, and Ashley have lines in this crowded comic, so why crowd them in?

Share this post


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

On the other hand, it just supports that Tedd would THINK temporary enchantments will worsen her sight.

It could be similar to how hair still grows (and at an accelerated rate) while enchanted, maybe keeping a "enhanced vision" spell going for lengthy periods also accelerates vision loss? I dunno though, if it was the TFG being used it seems like it should have been something that government and Uryuom studies would have pick up on, so is Magic not as safe in that regard?

Just now, Tom Sewell said:

Not all that weird. Nanase was last seen sitting on Ellen's right (stage left) and Panel Five crops her off to make room for Diane in Panel Four. Susan was last seen facing away from everyone else after Diane did that cheerleader move. And Ashley... I don't have a real clue. But none of Nanase,  Susan, and Ashley have lines in this crowded comic, so why crowd them in?

Ashley was standing behind them next to Elliot there, so it's likely she moved since then too.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Interesting hypothesis, Tedd

Now how do you go about testing said hypothesis?

I suppose human experimentation in the FBI's Paranormal division is just as much as a bureaucratic nightmare as medical experiments at the University

Unless...

Tedd, can you enchant forms?

Share this post


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

Tedd, can you enchant forms?

For a moment I read that as 'Tedd, can you enchant forums?'

The thought kind of appeals to me. If he could put some sort of TERF and troll slapping spell on the forums, I might finally be able to resign from my post as moderator. :demonicduck:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This strip made me wonder about wands, specifically the traditional black-and-white wand of stage magicians.

When you think about it, a wand is actually quite useless. It's not good as a weapon or as a kitchen utensil. You could use it for stirring, but you'd replace it with a spoon as soon as possible (and some witches in folklore actually use spoons rather than wands). They're a bit too big if you wanted to use them as chopsticks and you'd need two of them anyway. They're also not pointy or sturdy enough to be used as needles.

And yet wands are "a thing".  We're not calling them "straight-sticks" or "stafflets", there's a word for them (at least in the English language) - and they're a symbol for vast and arcane power.

It seems to be a bit of an odd choice.

The one thing wands are good at is pointing. It's not hard to imagine a group of hunter-gatherers sitting in a circle 30.000 years ago, with one of them holding a small stick and talking to the others while they use the stick to emphasize their words.

"See that little stone over ~here~? Let's say that's the mammoth. If ~you~, ~you~ and ~you~ hide in the bushes over ~there~ and make a lot of noise, the mammoth will get scared and run right over the cliff on ~this~ side and fall to its death. Easy dinner."

So over time, the little stick might become a tool associated with people who explain "things", because they're the ones who "know stuff". And this gives them power.

There's of course also the "big stick" AKA "the club", which is associated with physical power.

So when humans finally invented their gods, those gods naturally also carried sticks, big and small, to signify their might - and also as a conduit of divine power: Hermes used his rod to put people to sleep and Circe used a wand to turn men into pigs.

So sticks mean power, which is why kings and queens have scepters. And smaller sticks mean this power is less about the physical and more about the arcane.

When stage magicians then adopted the tuxedo with the top hat and the white gloves as their working garment in the 19th century, the wand followed the same colour pattern. The black makes it easy to conceal and the white tips are meant to attract the attention of the audience, while still being easy to hide when necessary. And it has tips on both sides so it can be held either way, meaning you don't have to worry about the orientation of the wand when you're "pulling it out of someone's ear".

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

There is a weird absence of Ashley, Nanase, and Susan, who were sitting and standing around that same couch seconds ago.

 

3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Note also that these three are least likely to hug Tedd. Not counting Diane obviously.

Ashley doesn't know Tedd well enough to hug, Nanase may be still in thinking of Tedd as "He", not "She" right now so in put off by hugging her.  Susan and hugs.  Right, not happening.

Share this post


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

And yet wands are "a thing".  We're not calling them "straight-sticks" or "stafflets", there's a word for them (at least in the English language - and they're a symbol for vast and arcane power.

In Danish the word for them is 'tryllestang' or 'tryllestav', respectively 'magic stick' or 'magic staff', usually referring to something wand-sized.

Sports referees over the ages have been known to carry small rods or wands to point at or prod players they wished to instruct or penalise. A poke with a wand is faster than saying "You're out" and clarifying whom you mean. In this instance I am particularly thinking of wargames and military exercises. The point is, as @detrius indicates, the wand serves as a symbol of authority both physically and symbolically. In this case it is small because a player who is counted out will probably appreciate not having it driven home by a club. :danshiftyeyes:

Thank you for your perspective, Detrius.

Share this post


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

Not all that weird. Nanase was last seen sitting on Ellen's right (stage left) and Panel Five crops her off to make room for Diane in Panel Four. Susan was last seen facing away from everyone else after Diane did that cheerleader move. And Ashley... I don't have a real clue. But none of Nanase,  Susan, and Ashley have lines in this crowded comic, so why crowd them in?

Maybe they read the script, saw that they didn't have any lines, and went to the kitchen.

Edited by Darth Fluffy
punctuation

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

An in-universe justification for wands would be that they are much more maneuverable and concealable than staves—and concealment was important when the Masquerade was a major concern.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

In Danish the word for them is 'tryllestang' or 'tryllestav', respectively 'magic stick' or 'magic staff', usually referring to something wand-sized.

Well, in Germany we say "Zauberstab", which of course means exactly the same thing.

Quote

Sports referees over the ages have been known to carry small rods or wands to point at or prod players they wished to instruct or penalise. A poke with a wand is faster than saying "You're out" and clarifying whom you mean. In this instance I am particularly thinking of wargames and military exercises. The point is, as @detrius indicates, the wand serves as a symbol of authority both physically and symbolically. In this case it is small because a player who is counted out will probably appreciate not having it driven home by a club. :danshiftyeyes:

An even better example might be the baton used by a conductor to direct an ensemble of musicians.

Share this post


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

An in-universe justification for wands would be that they are much more maneuverable and concealable than staves—and concealment was important when the Masquerade was a major concern.

In that case, you'd see enchanted everyday items such as pens, watches, lighters and pocket knives instead of wands.

Staves and canes also used to be part of everyone's EDC kit (Every Day Carry) until about 100 years ago, so they would have been rather inconspicuous items.

The main reason why they went out fashion is because modern-day cities are much cleaner than cities just a few decades ago. There's literally much less shit on the streets nowadays, so most people don't need a third leg to avoid slipping.

Just look up Col. George E. Waring Jr., who in 1895 led an army of white-uniformed street cleaners into New York to remove millions of tons of feces, corpses and urine from the streets: http://scrapyardexhibit.org/the-colonel-who-cleaned-up-new-york/

So I guess it would make sense if at least historically, magic staves were a lot more common than magic wands.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

In this case it is small because a player who is counted out will probably appreciate not having it driven home by a club. :danshiftyeyes:

Besides, the intent is to have the one player out, not one player out and two others busy carrying him off the field.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, I guess this provides an explanation for why Tedd wasn't wearing the glasses earlier in the day, though it still feels a little bit like a retcon.

Anyway, yay for starburst backgrounds in panels one and two!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

In Danish the word for them is 'tryllestang' or 'tryllestav', respectively 'magic stick' or 'magic staff', usually referring to something wand-sized.

Sports referees over the ages have been known to carry small rods or wands to point at or prod players they wished to instruct or penalise. A poke with a wand is faster than saying "You're out" and clarifying whom you mean. In this instance I am particularly thinking of wargames and military exercises. The point is, as @detrius indicates, the wand serves as a symbol of authority both physically and symbolically. In this case it is small because a player who is counted out will probably appreciate not having it driven home by a club. :danshiftyeyes:

Thank you for your perspective, Detrius.

Although, if they used a club, the offender would really be "out".

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
23 hours ago, Scotty said:
On 11/11/2019 at 6:32 AM, hkmaly said:

On the other hand, it just supports that Tedd would THINK temporary enchantments will worsen her sight.

It could be similar to how hair still grows (and at an accelerated rate) while enchanted, maybe keeping a "enhanced vision" spell going for lengthy periods also accelerates vision loss? I dunno though, if it was the TFG being used it seems like it should have been something that government and Uryuom studies would have pick up on, so is Magic not as safe in that regard?

That would be weird ; Remember that transformation convenience is practically law in EGS and carry few risks.

I think that it's really based on same idea as with the glasses.

20 hours ago, mlooney said:
On 11/11/2019 at 11:11 AM, hkmaly said:

Note also that these three are least likely to hug Tedd. Not counting Diane obviously.

Nanase may be still in thinking of Tedd as "He", not "She" right now so in put off by hugging her. 

Also, cousin.

21 hours ago, detrius said:

And yet wands are "a thing".  We're not calling them "straight-sticks" or "stafflets", there's a word for them (at least in the English language) - and they're a symbol for vast and arcane power.

It seems to be a bit of an odd choice.

The one thing wands are good at is pointing. It's not hard to imagine a group of hunter-gatherers sitting in a circle 30.000 years ago, with one of them holding a small stick and talking to the others while they use the stick to emphasize their words.

"See that little stone over ~here~? Let's say that's the mammoth. If ~you~, ~you~ and ~you~ hide in the bushes over ~there~ and make a lot of noise, the mammoth will get scared and run right over the cliff on ~this~ side and fall to its death. Easy dinner."

So over time, the little stick might become a tool associated with people who explain "things", because they're the ones who "know stuff". And this gives them power.

The "stafflets" not being a thing nevertheless, I would assume that wands started as staffs or rods but get smaller as they became more symbolic. Like, "I'm so good I can do big things even with small wand".

... actually, seems that in original Homer, Circe was using same item as Hermes and Athena, named "rabdos", which means "rod" ... maybe wands got smaller when fairies started using them?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, hkmaly said:
On 11/11/2019 at 7:38 AM, mlooney said:

Nanase may be still in thinking of Tedd as "He", not "She" right now so in put off by hugging her. 

Also, cousin.

Forgot about that.

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