PS238 by Aaron Williams
Ps238: The School for Metaprodigy Children
PS238 by Aaron Williams
Ps238: The School for Metaprodigy Children
PS238 by Aaron Williams
Ps238: The School for Metaprodigy Children
PS238 by Aaron Williams
Ps238: The School for Metaprodigy Children
51 thoughts on “2019-08-05”
Stephen Bierce
Thanks for the update. We were getting concerned.
Prairie Son
So, if he’s not taking credit for Tyler…he gets credit for the chaos goop?
Faust
Maybe he is delivering her. He seems too prepared to not have his own deal going.
Balmonec
(a) _Lester Wilcox_ won’t get anything, but maybe his alter ego will? Or is he even the real Lester?
(b) The way he says “_any_ fruits thereof” makes me feel like he isn’t necessarily expecting anything _good_ to come of this, and has just agreed to let her take the blame for all of it.
Also, in an unrelated note – how are they touching that chaos goop and not getting chaos-ed?
Mechwarrior
In the last panel it looks like they are starting to get chaosed.
Simreeve
It’s trying to hang onto them so that it can’t be left at Power & Glory…
^_^
Faust
Sarah delivers Tyler.
Lester delivers Sarah. He isn’t taking credit for delivering Tyler.
Tyler delivers chaos goop without a prior agreement. I doubt he would get a credit note so free choice from most stocked items.
Three exchanges get made I think. Lester will probably feel cheated with what he receives, maybe Sarah also.
dornbeast
Toby doesn’t get credit for delivering the chaos goop, and so his deal falls through: “Powers for Tyler Marlocke in return for delivering one (1) chaos goop.”
TemperaryObsessor
His brother might have made an agreement.
Messenger
A funny thought occurred to me:
Dynamode didn’t get mind-controlled into a form lacking shape-changing powers. The villain who did it to her actually put her mind in the form of a child* and then took over her body.
Yeah, I’m not putting much money on that myself.
* Her current shape-change is from P&G’s assistance, not her own.
David Johnston
They aren’t nearly as attractive to Chaos as Tyler is. Remember the stuff was created by his “brother’s” failure to balance the scales
Owlmirror
Yeah, wording.
A few pages back, Lester stated that he’d gotten the information on where Tyler and the magical whatsit were supposed to be (and at what time, but the watch broke).
He’s just disclaimed any claim to Tyler, specifically, alone. So it makes sense that his objective for his own reward was always the magical whatsit.
It would make sense that Lester’s the one who found the phone number for P&G in the fortune cookie. We’ve established that Sarah, who has been confirmed as being bimorphic, was always P&G’s first customer (at this location) — she’s the one who arrived at night in one form, and who came in a different form in the morning (and P&G later certainly seemed to be saying that no-one else had been around).
Thozmp
I do really wonder what her deal is. For someone who was supposed to be a hero, she really is treating Tyler as if he’s just a brick of gold or something to be traded away. I’d like to assume that she knows what is going to happen to Tyler and isn’t actually willing to potentially sell him into some sort of magical slavery or something, but she’s really intent on getting her reward.
Nealithi
Yeah I am not getting a great vibe from most of the ‘heroes’ around here. The former villain seems more altruistic than most of them.
Marie
Lester’s moral compass is intermittently working, but the chicklet seems to have drunk the kool-ade that the ed justifies the means. Tyler neither has free will nor seems lie parental permission. (tho if his parents are involved, he should get adivorce from them asap) I don’t thin they are, I think she will do anything for power, no matter the cost.
Some Ed
Tyler had grounds and need for a divorce from his parents long ago.
Unfortunately for him, his parents have enough superhero privilege that will never happen as things stand. I believe he’s aware of this.
Messenger
Reminds me of what the Revenant said during the Rainmaker case: that metahumans panic when they suddenly find themselves vulnerable after their powers are taken away (paraphrased).
This is similar and related, the long term effects *after* such a loss. Dynamode’s loss in particular came with a loss of identity as well. She’s traumatized and desperate.
I don’t condone her actions, but I sort of understand as such.
This is one of PS238’s strongest points as a comic: it’s an amazing deconstruction of the superhero genre, of what it means to have power. We’ve seen elitism among those who have versus those who don’t (including those who should have it but don’t). Now we see what happens to those who *had* it but no longer.
Legbreaker
Lester’s GOT to be working an angle….
Meep-morp
Maybe he intends to rush back and tell the Powers that someone kidnapped their kid… “Oh no, I totally saw that other hero kidnap your kid and she forced me to help. But I couldnt really do anything to stop her since I am a squishy mortal and the watch broke.”
For normal parents (and who knows, maybe THEM too) that info is going to give someone major browniepoints. Maybe even enough points that they’d try to lessen his restrictions.
Messenger
Very likely, but it’s gonna be amazing if he actually isn’t.
That would be quite a twist: the embittered ex-villain turns out to be moral and responsible while the ex-super is the one being self-centered at the expense of others.
What it actually is is still up in the air, though. I can’t help but feel a lot of impactful reveals are coming out way. I can’t wait to see how this story ends.
Prairie Son
I’m suddenly reminded of the end of the last arc and how things worked out for The Conjurer and Neuronet.
TemperaryObsessor
Yea it wouldn’t be that strange in this universe.
Man Neuronet was acting as an outright villien while Conjurer was basically only neutral not good.
Lurker37
Has anyone else considered that Lester might be an alias for a certain person we already know? One who is very good at finding out information about other people? One who has invested considerable time and money in keeping Tyler safe? One known to be good with disguises? One shown to be outside the tower prior to the lockdown?
Ed Rhodes
I thought that, I really did. But unless that person we’re all thinking about wears lifts and padded outfits, this “Lester” is too short and thin to be our well known sneaky person.
Jake
Lester may not take the credit for delivering Tyler. But this probably means he also won’t take any of the blame when hilarity ensues thanks to the chaos goop.
David Nuttall
I am thinking (well, there’s your problem!) that Power and Glory are just interested in the Chaos goop that is surrounding Tyler and not Tyler himself. They just happened to know that this would be the result of the debacle over in the tower. So their information is coming from a very powerful source. I am thinking the buyer for the chaos goop is Melphast’s mom; she would find it delicious and empowering.
Unmaker
You beat me to it. With a precognitive, Power and Glory could have _asked_ for Tyler knowing they would _get_ living chaos. it might actually be to Tyler’s benefit to have it peeled off of him.
Nealithi
Wouldn’t Melphast’s mother want it loose on Earth? It is basically chaotic power after all. And would be yet another bridge.
vonBoomslang
Melphast’s mom is part of the reason the goop exists in the first place, as she’s in no small part responsible for the awakening and balance powers of Toby.
TBeholder
Even if they didn’t happen to know, he’s delivering that cloak, more or less in the same shape as it was when he encountered it.
Messenger
There was the theory posited that Power & Glory are actually Malphast’s parents in disguise. So rather than being a buyer contracting P&G to get the Chaos Orb/goop, Malphast’s mom (and dad) are more directly involved.
Agreeing with the same basic point as other people replying to you, I too have to wonder why would Malphast’s mom want it. Why would she want it separate and away from Toby/Kid Powers? The reason it was a component of Kid Powers’ ability is to balance out its Order component, to make sure that whatever Toby did would not overwhelmingly favor Order over Chaos. It would seem more in tune with her and the forces of Chaos’ agenda to get it back into Toby.
… Unless being separated and elsewhere from Kid Powers created enough Chaos in the world to balance out whatever Order-aligned thing Toby did.
I wouldn’t be surprised if P&G were indeed Malphast’s parents in disguise, but I’m not sure about whatever motives she/they have.
Unmaker
Interesting theory. But I think we have seen the P&G salespersons talk when they were alone in the building and they didn’t break character. And they did talk about their boss, singular. Chaos and Order do not have the same boss.
Messenger
We have seen Chaos and Order work together with the same agendas, though. The first was Malphast’s parents meeting, falling in love, and having a kid. The second was the invasion of the Earthly realm to more directly influence us humans, wherein both Malphast’s parents realize their meeting and having a kid was set-up by their bosses.
Why not do it again? If P&G granting more people powers serves the separate ultimate agendas of Chaos and Order, why not?
And the singular boss they talked to on the phone could be just either another agent of Chaos or Order working with them on this project.
Faust
Chaos and order working together no doubt would need a very flexible agreement. If the orb is permanently removed from play then I’m guessing another element of a chaotic nature would be brought in. If I remember correctly the teleporter is a piece for chaos but without the chaos element so far, that might change. I love being proved wrong, unpredictable plots are more interesting.
TemperaryObsessor
I think they both want to avoid a fate where the world is chaotic and boring at the same time.
Owlmirror
A paranoid thought: P&G’s boss isn’t interested in Tyler for himself, but rather wants Tyler as bait. Possibly for either Ron or Cecil.
Faust
They attract customers in a variety of unusual methods so baiting them to arrive may be deliberate although I don’t think they are involved directly with Tyler and the chaos goop arriving.
Rock
How surprising. Lester is managing to look the more sympathetic member of this impromptu teamup…
Unmaker
Perhaps Lester’s goal is to deliver the chaos goop to P&G. That would fit with all of his actions I think.
LookieLouE1707
Like a nest of hornets, the chaos goop is stirred up by an irritant – in this case, Lester’s invocation of order by his oath.
LookieLouE1707
Did they really frog-march him all the way?
Prairie Son
No, they’re carrying him. You can see his feet are about a foot off the ground.
Nos482
We Are Tyler!^^
Ed Rhodes
“Dum Da Dum Dum, Dum Dum Dum!”
Owlmirror
Something’s off, here.
Lester Wilcox is on probation, but he’s aiding in the commission of a felony (kidnapping) that could land him back in prison for a long time.
He must be really, really, confident that he’s going to get some huge benefit for what he’s doing. Maybe he was promised something in advance for cooperating, regardless of success? Maybe he’s aiding the Praetorians, or the Revenant, in exchange for getting his powers back?
Maybe he’s under a huge and powerful geas, and/or . . . hm.
Maybe he’s not really Lester Wilcox? Ideas which I cheerfully acknowledge are whack:
1) Lester is secretly Veles, shifting shape to investigate P&G, or possibly to swap something for something in P&G.
2) Lester is secretly Koshchei, performing one of the tasks/favors for Veles to infiltrate P&G, or do a swap, or whatever.
Stephen Bierce
I was re-reading “84 And The Ones Before” and I’d had the thought that the Big Boss at P&G could be Baba Yaga. She said that if anybody won the challenge and found the Eye, she’d be able to escape the Egg. So what if she did and X% of the inventory of the P&G shop was stuff looted from Koshchei’s treasure chests?
SpyOne
Lester either thinks he will get a huge benefit for what he is doing, or he thinks he will get a huge punishment for NOT doing what he is doing.
As for his forgoing the credit, I suspect he has a carefully worded deal: he doesn’t have to deliver Tyler so much as ensure that Tyler is delivered, for example.
Or, as others have noted, he was actually after the Chaos stuff and Tyler is just incidental.
Owlmirror
Yeah, when I posted the comment you’re replying to, I hadn’t thought through the entire scenario, and hadn’t gone back and re-read a few pages.
At this point, I am pretty confident that Lester was told where Tyler and the orb would be, and that the orb was Lester’s price for powers. Maybe he was also told that Tyler was the price for Sarah’s powers, and that the orb would somehow be connected to Tyler, so that helping Sarah bring in Tyler would also benefit himself.
Andorxor
He brings a mystical wounded person to a place where he can gets mystical help,that is not kidnapping
Owlmirror
Sarah is kidnapping Tyler to exchange him for powers. She has never even suggested that she wants to help him get the orb splat off him. In fact, she didn’t originally know that Tyler would have the orb splat all over him.
There is no reason to believe that Lester has benevolent motives. He has at no point even talked to Tyler to tell him where they are taking him or why, other than discussing who gets credit for taking him there. While he claimed that P&G would be able to deal with the orb splat, it could probably have been dealt with by Tyler’s friends.
Lester is at this point Sarah’s accomplice in the kidnapping.
Segev
Me, I’m just feeling very sorry for Tyler. I don’t think we’ve seen him look this scared since his first days as Moonshadow. And we were just commenting how much more collected he is these days a few comics ago.
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