2015-02-09
Posted on 2015-02-09 by Aaron

96 thoughts on “2015-02-09”

  1. Mechwarrior

    Julie, you’re shouting at the wrong idiot.

    1. Faust

      Yes but he is the one most likely capable of helping.

      1. ThatGuy

        You shout at someone who can help or shout at someone who WILL screw up again… Also love the villain mage. Can we get a party swap for him even if he does nothing?

        1. ByTheFarmstead

          It is hard to take someone seriously who is dressed like a combination of hong kong phoey and Dr Fate. The helm just isn’t enough to save the outfit. I think the stuff is about to hit the fan, and deservedly so. I don’t really think this was primarily the guardian mage’s fault, it was a shield that LP probably would have attacked liek that on her own and puppet boy did NOT listen to objections.

        2. Christopher

          I always thought he looked like a Hugh Hefner-wanabee with Fates helmet.

        3. kentda

          Actually I’d trade him for the dumbass(neuronet) who was resposible for Phlo turning into a pile of … whatever first. Let Conjurer go and embarrass himself in front of a guy who most likely has a great deal more knowledge than he does.

          As to Neuronet, if he still has more than one brain cell, he would be doing a quick exit stage left as once the wizard calms Julie down, he will potentially be the target of a three mile punch (you know, one hit, target flies three miles through the air).

      2. xero

        my take away from this story is all the guys who become team leaders are Huge Dicks

        1. Lycanthromancer

          [img]Moon Shadow.[/img]

          Your argument is invalid.

    2. Simon

      She’s surrounded by idiots, but the one she’s shouting at is the one most likely to be able to answer the question… unless you think one of her companions has anything useful to contribute?

      1. kentda

        Notice that unlike Conjurer who he obvious held great disdain for, he referred to Julie as Young Lady. He is giving her some courtesy, which will probably quickly defuse her anger at him. Once she explains, I have a feeling that he may agree to help. Of course that will require that Conjurer lets him go. Then the onus is on him. Neuronet has already proven he needs to spend a good ten to twenty wearing stripes.

        1. Simon

          Yes, I noticed that… whatever else he might be, he has good manners. Which immediately makes him more worthy of her respect (and interest) than her supposed allies.

  2. Ghostbear0

    This is going to hurt and then we get to see Julie deal with feeding the wrong idiot his own arm.

  3. rocjawcypher

    Oh that is not the way to reassure someone. Also, did he turn LP into a piece of paper? otherwise where did that piece come from?

    1. CF_Azaka

      Maybe he drew a picture of Phlogiston and that’s what’s on the paper?

  4. Hogan

    Guess a certain DemiMage will soon learn how you can get answers and help out of stubborn guardian mages by issuing the RIGHT threats and pleas!

  5. Yhelta

    Unless I miss my guess, Phlogiston is the green haze at the bottom of panel 1

    1. Wanderer

      Well, *part* of her is that green mist…

    2. Simon

      That certainly seems to be the implication of fire-dude trying to keep her away from the spot…

    3. Alex C

      Its possible she is just trying to reform. That’s got to be a painful experience.

      1. Lackey

        I don’t know, Nitro the Exploding man always seemed to enjoy it.

        1. Nightmask

          That’s because Nitro was a psychopath who reveled in mass murder, even if his power caused him horrendous agony he’d still enjoy it just for the destruction and death he left behind. Phlogiston unfortunately doesn’t seem to have the range of secondary powers that make exploding an easy and harmless thing like Nitro had.

      2. guys, don't worry

        in the process of reforming. may or may not have skin when 84 was trying to look. may or may not have lost her super suit in the blast

  6. Adahn

    In a rather surprising display of competence, the Conjurer seems to have successfully sealed off Rastov’s powers (I guess he actually has something to back up that overly inflated ego).

    Wonder if Julie would actually harm someone who’s incapable of defending himself?

    1. Lycanthromancer

      Even the derpiest of ponies has a special talent. This must be his.

    2. kentda

      I’d say its likely that the first hit stunned Rastov more than anything, which bought time for the shield to fully enclose him. While Conjurer was trying to bribe him with all sorts of knowledge he was probably busy prodding the field. I think that’s what any smart wizard who got snared in such a trap would be doing. In short, while he probably Can escape, he’s gladly playing the Waiting Game (like he already stated). It costs him nothing to stay ‘trapped’ for the moment.

  7. Messenger

    Phlogiston…
    O_O

    My question is:
    Is Neuronet going to feel any kind of regret and remorse over what happened completely and take responsibility for his actions? Or is he going to somehow pass the buck and claim it wasn’t in any way his fault?

    1. Quixotic James

      I wonder if Neuronet is even conscious.

    2. Shadur

      Of course it’s not his fault, if Phlogiston had been more clear in explaining her powers and hadn’t shouted so much in his head while he was controlling her this wouldn’t have happened, and isn’t it just like a FISS to threaten to resort to violence just because someone got a little banged up?

      1. Armitage

        I know that you’re being facetious, but your comment reminded me of a Champions game that I was in once.
        The PCs found an alien orb with time and space warping abilities. One of the PCs used it to teleport off alone to face the master villain who was coming to steal it. He got his butt handed to him and the villain took the orb. Later, rather than admitting that he shouldn’t have abandoned the team in an effort to hog the spotlight, he blamed one of the other players for not giving him the orb quickly enough for him to fully figure out how to use it.

        1. Mechwarrior

          I was in a Shadowrun game with someone like that.

          After the third time he screwed up a mission with his stupidity, my troll put a round in the back of his head and turned him in for the bounty he’d acquired. Only time I’ve ever had another player’s stupidity actually pay off.

        2. Pneumonica

          The different ways I’ve seen poorly-thought-out Cyberpunk characters end like that are amazing. The solo who opens fire on someone before knowing who they are, the cop who thinks that he really can just order a crime boss around because he’s a cop, or the corporate who thinks everybody will take orders because he has money and backing… yeah. They end up being PVP kills.

        3. Mechwarrior

          My personal favorites are the annoying and stupid characters who take the Type “O” trait. That way you can always make a tidy sum selling their corpse to organleggers if they can’t take a hint.

  8. cherub

    Where is puppet boy through all of this?

    1. pcj70

      If he has any sense of self preservation at all, he is keeping out of one justifiably upset little girl’s line of sight.

    2. Van

      If he has any sense whatsoever, he is hiding very very well.

    3. David Nuttall

      I am hoping he is doubled up behind a rock, holding his gut after getting a almost-superhuman punch to his abs. More that likely, he is just hiding out behind the rock, realizing that that did not work out the way he planned.

      1. Someguy

        I’m hoping that whatever pain that Neuronet caused Phlogiston, he felt the full brunt of the backlash.

        1. Messenger

          Sadly, Someguy, that’s going to be poor justice if he doesn’t feel responsible for the fate of Phlogiston. He may even think any psychic backlash he suffered to be unfair to him!

    4. Wanderer

      Probably unconscious after being inside Phlogiston as she was blown apart. Not a pleasant experience, I should imagine.

  9. luagha

    It’s one of those things about FISS – never smart to make someone who can punch his fist through your chest really really mad.

    1. roguebfl

      New Plan, Let the Wookiee win

      1. Van

        I think the wookie would hold him still while she gets a little disgruntled.

  10. Nodrog

    Assuming Neuronet survives his upcoming little ‘talk’ with 84, I see him getting a cursed headband like the Principal had.

    1. Rock

      Well, that… that would be simply wonderful.

      It might help if he’s peeled out of his enhancer-suit and the suit is subsequently destroyed in front of him, too.

      1. kentda

        You know, its also possible that without the Suit his powers are limited to nothing more than raising a tea cup or knowing that a person is rather annoyed. He could very well be lying about how strong his powers are without the Suit. He strikes me as the sort who would do just that.

    2. Mechwarrior

      It occurs to me that this egg might have a position being vacated before the end of this little adventure…

  11. Zodo

    So is anyone besides me wondering what it is 84 has in her hand?

  12. Kolth

    I realize that this is probably focusing on the wrong thing, but what is 84 holding exactly?

    1. Alex C

      That’s what I was thinking.

    2. Moe Lane

      It used to be a stone block. As soon as Julie finishes molding it around her fist, she’ll be using it to give SOMEBODY a Grimm’s Hello.

      1. John

        Stone doesn’t do that when squeezed like that. It shatters.

        1. Moe Lane

          Yes, but Julie is REALLY mad. Also, she can fly, shrug off a tank round, and leave fingerprints in titanium: allow me the minor amusement of imagining her turning a stone block into a set of silicon knuckles. 🙂

  13. Chronobyte

    Actually… I’m thinking Julie is about to pass the next test. So far she has displayed gentility (by treating boat gnome like a person), honesty and wisdom (by answering the stone guardians’ question) and perceptiveness )by being the first to notice the spacial loop). Now she demonstrates compassion by (apparently) being the only one who really cares what happened to phlogiston. Conjurer looked like he was very near to the explosion and must know what happened, but hasn’t even bothered to acknowledge that one of his “teammates” might be injured or dead.

    1. Wanderer

      To his credit, he’s been kind of busy making sure they weren’t going to get blasted/killed by Rastov once the smoke cleared.

  14. Marianom

    The neuronet guy is in the floor drooling and diying from the pain he feels from plogiston mind… unles the bad mage guy is talking to the three he bested and the plasma woman and the mind contrlo guy are dead… or this three are dead whit the mage and the other two are ok looking at a big crater…

  15. Matt [in Middletown]

    Julie, rearrange his face a bit.
    That might get him to be more cooperative.
    Use that doofus helmet, he deserves it.

    1. guys, don't worry

      what’d the poor guardian mage do?

      1. Faust

        Explosive defence shield spell?

  16. With Respect

    Innnnteresting.

    Aaron, never stop writing.

  17. guys, don't worry

    nobody dies in this comic. he was concerned about the nudity aspect of R movies not the blood…her costume didn’t make it is all. just gotta wait for her to wake up

    1. With Respect

      -.-

      I cannot dispute the logic of your thesis.

  18. Rock

    Interesting that, while Rastov (rightly) holds the Conjurer in disdain, he is visibly taken aback and resorts to polite language when he is shouted at by Julie / 84…

    1. Adahn

      While the Conjurer has him magically bound, he shows no intention of actually hurting Rastov, especially since Rastov still holds the key to their prison (or so he claims).

      Julie, on the other hand, is visibly upset and is quite capable of harming him now that he is rendered vulnerable.

      Rastov’s behavior is reasonable considering his circumstances.

      1. kentda

        Actually he is still invulnerable since he hasn’t finished his “term”. He’s just not mobile at the moment. Surprise him, stun him, snare him, yes, but hurt? He’s still protected from that.

        So while Julie is not a threat, she is a ‘young lady’ that is quite obviously angry. So, polite language is used to calm her down while he can find out details on what has her so upset.

        1. Adahn

          Not exactly: Rastov’s protected by the egg from being “truly destroyed” (in his own words).

          There is a lot of room between being invulnerable and being immortal, just ask Prometheus (the Titan from Greek mythology).

        2. Mechwarrior

          As Jafar said in the second Aladin movie, you’d be surprised what you can live through.

        3. kentda

          I think that is the very key phrase here. “Truly Destroyed”. Using the word invulnerable was a poor choice of words.

          I’ll use an example. There was an incident in comics where Plasticman was literally blow apart, his parts scattered to the four winds. Over the next millenia he rebuilt himself, gathering up all his parts. This basically means he cannot be truly destroyed. How do you truly kill a man who can rebuild himself from chunks as small as your pinky? Of course such statements tend to have people finding a way around it.

          So one can interpret his “Truly Destroyed” in several ways. Invulernable to harm, able to reform his body in spite of damage, regenerates from any serious wounds quickly. There are a number of ways one could look at the term truly destroyed. We of course don’t know exactly What it would take to Truly Destroy him.

          As to immortality, most believe that a person who is immortal is invulnerable as well which is not automatically the case. They might be just as prone to death as everyone else is. They are just immune to the ravages of time in some shape or form.

        4. cherub

          just because someone is immortal does not mean they do not age. Look at the Book “The Misenchanted Sword”. The sword made the man immortal but he continued to age. Also Wolverine he aged just very very slowly.

        5. kentda

          Cherub, thank you for that information on the book.

          I could talk a great deal about the matter as the concepts of both are so varied that one can believe one is often the other as well.

          Sometimes I just write a bit too fast and create the wrong impression of what I actually meant.

      2. Nobody

        The other thing might be he KNOWS the limits of Conjurer’s powers. He’s seen him cast, and he knows a great deal about magic. He DOESN’T know what Julie can do except fly around. She could be anything at this point, and politeness is the most responsible strategy until he has proof she’s worthy of contempt.

        1. David Johnston

          Or of course he’s just nicer to children.

        2. kentda

          I don’t think he’d feel contempt for her once he knew what she could do. He’s seen Conjurer’s level of power and skill, and he’s seem an amount of his attitude. This has made him worthy of such contempt.

          So long as Julie doesn’t stoop to Conjurer’s level, contempt would be the last feeling he’d probably have about her. Worry, concern, perhaps even a bit of fear, those I could see, but contempt … so long as she stays the Julie we all know, not likely.

  19. Wanderer

    (thinks)

    . . .

    Oh!

    Oh, dear… has it occurred to anyone else that the only part of Rostov’s hood missing is the part that Phlogiston took apart just before detonation? This could be messy…

    1. kentda

      It’s not uncommon to see clothing damage happen to characters that are otherwise immune to a form of damage. Of course said damage will somehow never be enough to destroy the outfit or ruin the core ‘image’ of the character. There are exceptions of course, but thats the general rule about clothing.

      Rastov is immune. His clothing is not.

      1. Prairie Son

        Yeah, that’s kind of the point of Superman’s cape. It shows the effects of all the damage he’s immune to.

        1. Wanderer

          Okay, so why is everything else perfectly intact, down to his cloak clasp, but the one part of his cloak that hit Phlogiston is still gone after being blown apart and reassembled?

          I have a bad feeling abut that “paper” 84 is holding…

        2. Adahn

          Because Phlogiston phased through Rastov’s shield. The explosion occurred outside the shield, so aside from the torn hood he was mostly untouched.

          The bigger question is what caused the explosion? Seems to be from an outside source with green lightning (Perun perhaps?).

        3. Nightmask

          The explosion is inside the shield Adahn, that’s why the explosion is roughly shaped along the same contours of the shield as it contained it for the most part, probably as a result of disintegrating the guy’s cloak or the field causing her control over her powers to fail. If it had been outside the field the blast shape would be different and would have injured everyone outside of it while likely not taking the field down.

  20. Matthew

    Jerk and action movie addict that he is this is more evidence that Firedrake is just clearly out of his depth and unsure how to deal with children.

    1. Shadur

      Yeah, less of a conceited jerk and more just really bad at the whole people thing.

      1. kentda

        This of course could explain a lot of his behavior. He’s Socially Clueless. There Are actual mental disorders that are something like that, where one just cannot pick up on the undercurrent of what’s going on. Of course medication and therapy can do wonders for helping with that, but they will always struggle with social interaction.

  21. Irabbit75

    That can over there.

    Which can?

    The one labelled ‘whoopass’.

    You mean the one I just opened?

    Yup . . . .

  22. With Respect

    At a guess, the paper is an artifact of Veles, and seeing it will radically alter Rastov’s demeanor and cooperativeness, though he need not explain that. One expects he won’t explain that at all.

    At least, inside a loop inside an Egg, restive Rastov’s not on Veles’ radar.

  23. BigNorseWolf

    She’s yelling at the wrong person. She ought to knock the block off of her own sorcerer.

    1. Nobody

      Why? He didn’t do anything to her (as far as we saw). The team psychic sure, but Conjurer has just been semi-justifiably arrogant this whole time, not really a block-knocking offense.

  24. Michael

    Seeing Julie with the paper reminds me of Piffany in Nodwick, threatening a dentist with giving him religious literature for a month as a suppository if Baphuma’al harmed Nodwick. Just looks like that level of angry.

    1. kentda

      Ah! You’re right! I can see the Nodwick similarities.

      Julie has very much of a Piffany feel about her. In ways Conjurer comes off as being similar(though more arrogant) to the Wizard(dont recall the name). Firedrake has some of the “style” of character that the warrior(again, don’t recall name) has.

      They’re not perfect matches of course, but I Can see some similarities.

      1. Prairie Son

        Artax and Yeagar are the names you’re looking for, I believe.

        1. kentda

          Thank you Prairie, its been awhile since I read the series and was hazy on the exact names. But yes, Yaegar is the Warrior while Artax is the Wizard.

          Of course I would find it amusing to see Conjurer and Artax in the same room. The mess would start when Artax made commentary about Conjurer’s clothing. It would go downhill from there. Considering some of the events that have happened to Artax over the years, I seriously doubt he’s a pushover when it comes to magical prowess.

  25. With Respect

    While I miss Artax and Yeagar, I’d say Rastov appears far more Artax like than the Conjurer (though I can see elements of all in each), and Firedrake’s nowhere near as much age-inappropriate fun as Yeagar.. or fun at all, that I’ve seen — too focused on frying and not enough on appreciating the nonflammable moments in life.

    Would be nice to come across Artax and Yeagar in the egg. And Piffany. And Nodwick. 84 has a bit of Nodwick about her.

    The whole FISS are the henchmen of modern superhero teams theme and all.

    1. Mechwarrior

      Given that Nodwick and crew are part of Vashti Imperia’s past, it would be odd, though not impossible, for them to appear in the egg.

      Tyler as a lot more in common with Nodwick than Julie does, since he’s not invulnerable.

    2. kentda

      With Respect, I wasn’t saying exactly alike, just some similarities (I think the Egg would be far more interesting with Firedrake being more like Yaegar).

      As to Rastov … yeah, him and Artax would probably get along quite well. Of course an evening of discussion between the two of them would leave everyone’s eyes glazed for the next three days.

      Piffany meets our two resident wannabe villains on campus. THAT would be absolute comedy Gold.

      1. With Respect

        We all miss them.

        At the same time, I think we can all agree, they’ve earned their retirement, and deserve the rewards of becoming more legendary with time.

        1. kentda

          Absolutely, the hardest part about anything that has a large number of fans is for the creator to understand when is the best time to wind things up. Of course there is the temptation of “easy” money to continue a popular series, in spite of the fact that it should have a natural organic ending. I’ve seen that happen numerous times, and its sad to see something good become a shell of what it was.

          Nodwick and crew deserve their retirement (especially Nodwick). Doesn’t mean that we can’t imagine the humor of things like Piffany doing a cameo on campus.

  26. Thaylok

    My thought is that those defeated by the wizard are ejected from the egg. All, except the last one defeated who must then take the place of the wizard. Would that not be a nice turn for the megalomaniac magician with the overcompensating helmet.

  27. Marie

    I like that all the mythological types all treat 84 as a young lady, mostly because she is more polite. Manners are always valuable in myth and pride penalized.

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