Comic for Friday, Jan 21, 2022

[mlooney 3,417]

Here is
Based on what Edward said about Bishop being there with him being bad for diplomacy I think we can rule out Bishop as the 3rd person at the griffin meet

[Darth Fluffy 302]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

Here is
Based on what Edward said about Bishop being there with him being bad for diplomacy I think we can rule out Bishop as the 3rd person at the griffin meet

We haven's seen much of Bishop in action, but she does seem to lack empathy; not a good trait to lack for a diplomat. (She did OK leaving the note for Rooster.)

The phrase 'surrogate father figure' suggests that perhaps she's either lab created, like Grace, of the result of magic, as someone speculated before.

I'm picturing hyper competent in magic and enforcement, but low on being able to connect to people leading to flaws in her moral compass and a certain lack of common sense in key areas. A longer sequence of comics might have been worth it to get Edward's point of view.

I wonder if she's being groomed in-comic to be a future big bad?

Also, I'm a bit curious why Dan bothered to mention her at all in this context. Edward wouldn't want her involved, and Elliot didn't know of her, why bring her up? Even though she's potentially an extra hand on site, safety goes way down if she offends the griffins. 

I could see Adrian assisting, but Edward would probably not want to ask. Maybe Grace, but she might literally smell like prey to a griffin, so maybe not. Bishop might have that drawback as well, although that would nip the hypothetical future evil in the bud. ("Arthur, I have some good news, and some bad news. Well, you'll see it as bad; I see an up side, a double win, if you will. First, the good; we had a good chat with the griffins, they are our allies. Second, Bishop made a material contribution to our diplomatic efforts; she brought a snack for the griffins." "Thank you, Edward. What's the bad news?" "..., Bishop went to the Griffin universe when they returned. She won't be coming back." "Are you sure? She might change her mind. She may get homesick." "That's not going to happen.")

Two other possibilities that are not likely,  Edward could ask Mrs. Kitsune to just be present, or he could attempt to contact Niroko. Either should appears as royalty to the Griffins, unless lack of practice might rule Mrs. Kitsune out.

Why would royalty matter? They saw Diane, who is near lineage to an Immortal, and did not comment on that connection. Hmm, it must be the inbreeding, it brings out the recessive magic genes. Oh, great, in the griffin universe, the most powerful magic users have other less positive family traits going on as well. I think I'll stay away from that place.

 

 

[ijuin 572]

Along that line of thinking, meeting Tedd (a Seer!) would likely confirm to Tara and Andrea that their assessment of Nanase’s family line as special was correct.

[mlooney 3,417]

I'm not sure Edward would risk Tedd meeting the griffins until he is sure that they are friendly.  He's iffy enough about Elliot being there.  Actually I'm sure, Edward not going to risk Tedd.

[ChronosCat 155]

Just for old times sake: Yay for starburst background in panel four!

(I probably will cheer if Dan uses some more imaginative special backgrounds in the future, and definitely would if he brought back the flowery backgrounds, but I honestly don't have much enthusiasm for the starbursts anymore, thanks to Dan using them so often.)

45 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

The phrase 'surrogate father figure' suggests that perhaps she's either lab created, like Grace, of the result of magic, as someone speculated before.

Or, you know, her actual father could have died, never been around, or just done such a poor job at being a father she latched onto someone better at it.

50 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

I wonder if she's being groomed in-comic to be a future big bad?

Dan hasn't really done big bads since Damien was defeated. Lord Tedd and/or General Shade Tale were set up for the role but haven't been important in years (and we have reason to believe when they return Lord Tedd at least will be portrayed fairly sympathetically). Magus was originally the "mastermind", but now we know he's a fairly good guy who crossed a few lines in his desperation; while he may come into conflict with the main cast again he's hardly a supervillain. Pandora seemed like a big bad for a while, but went out as a hero. Sirleck was never redeemed and fulfilled a role similar to a big bad, but I don't think the comic focused on his threat enough for him to really count. Voltaire seems like a big bad right now, but we don't really know much about him yet and haven't seen him in a while.

On the other hand, it does feel like Bishop is being set up to be a major adversary or at least an obstacle for the main cast at some point in the future (particularly if as Arthur implied the plan is for her to become the next head of the Paranormal division of the FBI).

[Don Edwards 548]

5 hours ago, mlooney said:

Here is
Based on what Edward said about Bishop being there with him being bad for diplomacy I think we can rule out Bishop as the 3rd person at the griffin meet

Dang, I need to get my crossover story done. I know why the character I'm bringing over would be at that meeting (albeit probably as a fourth person, not the 3rd)...

[Darth Fluffy 302]

2 hours ago, mlooney said:

I'm not sure Edward would risk Tedd meeting the griffins until he is sure that they are friendly.  He's iffy enough about Elliot being there.  Actually I'm sure, Edward not going to risk Tedd.

I had that same line of thought.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

2 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

Or, you know, her actual father could have died, never been around, or just done such a poor job at being a father she latched onto someone better at it.

Yes, if EGS were in a normal universe, that would make sense. In EGS, I think abnormal background is at least implied as a favored explanation.

[mlooney 3,417]

4 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

The phrase 'surrogate father figure' suggests that perhaps she's either lab created, like Grace, of the result of magic, as someone speculated before.

 

That would also explain Arthur saying something about her introduction to magic here
https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-098

 

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

One of the more frustrating aspects of this story is keeping track of just how much the people who aren't supposed to know certain things actually know

Unlike the real stories of politics and business management where you know well in advance that the people who need to be competent and well informed actually know nothing

(University politics is probably the best illustration of how well educated geniuses can become complete fools)

And this is the twentieth anniversary of EGS?

Another 20 years and our crew will finish Freshman Orientation at the University and will be about half way through the Registration line

(Admittedly, I finished registration in less than a decade.  But I went to a very small school)

Edited January 21, 2022 by Pharaoh RutinTutin
Spelling

[mlooney 3,417]

1 minute ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Another 20 years and our crew will finish Freshman Orientation at the University and will be about half way through the Registration line

I'm assuming that there will be a time skip and we will pick back up in the middle of their freshman year.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

And this is the twentieth anniversary of EGS?

Another 20 years and our crew will finish Freshman Orientation at the University and will be about half way through the Registration line

(Admittedly, I finished registration in less than a decade.  But I went to a very small school)

This is also the twentieth anniversary of Something Positive. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Mere coincidence?

Registration lines are notorious for taking a long time. A decade might be extreme. Hopefully, you brought some snacks.

 

 

[mlooney 3,417]

9 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

This is also the twentieth anniversary of Something Positive. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Mere coincidence?

Of late EGS has been posting a lot more then SP.  I know Randy is having a rough time, but his posting is random at best.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

Of late EGS has been posting a lot more then SP.  I know Randy is having a rough time, but his posting is random at best.

He's not alone. At least he posts from time to time. So many webcomics I follow have gone into hiatus.It definitely kicked up during COVID. Many of the issues seem to be kids related, and Randy has acquired a munchkin as well. I know from experience producing spawns throws a monkey wrench into ones personal agenda. It is illegal in my state to throw them back, so we kept and raised ours, with mixed results. They are at least as messed up as their parents. Well, maybe not quite.

[mlooney 3,417]

I only read 35 or so web comics.  At least 10 of those are more or less random on when they put out a comic.  About the time that I think they are done and I go to removed them from my bookmarks, they post a new comic.

[ChronosCat 155]

19 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

And this is the twentieth anniversary of EGS?

 

Another 20 years and our crew will finish Freshman Orientation at the University and will be about half way through the Registration line

(Admittedly, I finished registration in less than a decade.  But I went to a very small school)

Dan has said before that after a few last plot threads were tied up (the biggest being the return of the Griffons), there would be a time skip to around the time of their high school graduation.

Based on this, and assuming we're nearing the climax of this story and there won't too many stories or any long stories between the time skip and College, I expect them to make it to college some time in 2023 or 2024.

...And if I'm correctly interpreting comments Dan's made in the past about expecting the kids to make it college pretty quickly when he first started the comic, that's when the "Prelude" phase of EGS will conclude and the real story will begin...

2 hours ago, mlooney said:

I only read 35 or so web comics.  At least 10 of those are more or less random on when they put out a comic.  About the time that I think they are done and I go to removed them from my bookmarks, they post a new comic.

I only read two web comics these days, and the other one updates slowly enough that I usually check back on it every few months. (I'm actually overdue to check back on it; hopefully it will have a nice chunk of material for me to read.)

[mlooney 3,417]

29 minutes ago, ChronosCat said:

I only read two web comics these days, and the other one updates slowly enough that I usually check back on it every few months. (I'm actually overdue to check back on it; hopefully it will have a nice chunk of material for me to read.)

Reading my comics is part of my "wake up and become functional" ritual each day.  I'm down to 30 some odd, from a high of close to 100.  

[ChronosCat 155]

My morning ritual these days involves checking twitter and these forums. (When EGS is posted on time, I usually read it in the evening just before I go to bed.)

[mlooney 3,417]

I make tea, read comics then go into that never ending scroll of Discord and Facebook.  Spend too much time on both and I need to only block out a couple of hours on them.  And need to work on "real" projects instead of just reading social media.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

On 1/21/2022 at 6:48 PM, Darth Fluffy said:

Yes, if EGS were in a normal universe, that would make sense. In EGS, I think abnormal background is at least implied as a favored explanation.

I think that Bishop's father just didn't do a very good job of being a proper father.

Then again, from her looks I also assume that her father was Emperor Ming.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

10 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

I think that Bishop's father just didn't do a very good job of being a proper father.

Then again, from her looks I also assume that her father was Emperor Ming.

I'm not sure that a shout out to a sci fi setting in a different retro-future era counts as 'she has a normal background'.

 

[mlooney 3,417]

Between her eyes, her fashion sense and her introduction to magic, to say nothing how she responded to Edward, I'd say the she has any thing but a normal background.  Possible lab subject, but that implies that there was more than Project  Lycanthrope doing "studies" on semi-human creatures.  That disturbs me somewhat.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

16 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Then again, from her looks I also assume that her father was Emperor Ming.

Not every resident of Mingo City was a descendant of Mr The Merciless

[mlooney 3,417]

2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

18 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Then again, from her looks I also assume that her father was Emperor Ming.

Not every resident of Mingo City was a descendant of Mr The Merciless

But they take their fashion trends from what he wears.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

14 hours ago, mlooney said:

But they take their fashion trends from what he wears.

Hes Mingo, the Trend Setter!