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“You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting “Vanity,” thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for you own pleasure.” ― John Berger, Ways of Seeing
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Oct 9, 2020 16:07
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Mookie talking about how he wants to destroy barriers and stigmas while still nurturing the same ol' weird complexes he had in 2003 is really funny. tfw you want your woke friends to like you but don't wanna actually put effort into changing.
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Oct 9, 2020 22:35
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I fell down a click hole that wrapped back around to Mookie, and led me to a fun blog post from Star Power. The short version of it is that Mookie doesn't know how to write a villain beyond making them do progressively eviler things, and Black Hole Bill scraping his ship for no reason is what he considers his best character moment.
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Oct 9, 2020 23:31
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TheHan posted:I fell down a click hole that wrapped back around to Mookie, and led me to a fun blog post from Star Power. Man this is so revealing of Mookie's thought patterns. He doesn't understand the idea of liking someone who breaks the rules. https://starpowercomic.com/bad-karma-so-to-speak/ Looking just a little further forward, I feel like the one above says stuff about Mookie too. In 2018, Mookie wrote about how he didn't believe in bad karma anymore. But if you read a description of what he's talking about, it's that it took him until this point to apparently stop waiting for cosmic justice to be unleashed upon his personal enemies. I know that a lot of people believe in a generalized karmic balance of the universe, even if that's really a Western concept cribbing off of Eastern spirituality, but what Mookie is describing here is not a belief in karma. It's magical thinking. There's just something about the idea of his 38-year-old man waiting for his heaters to be blasted by Celesto into oblivion, that really brings so much of his writing into focus. Chapter 12 The Storm of Souls Part 10   I like how all these locations are just instantly next to each other, how did the Inferno answer getting up in Barthis so fast, and more to the point why was he waiting disguised as a slime? Why me just ambush them? But, even though Mookie fails landing at by not pacing this out over a couple of strips to build some tension, I do like that spark tasting the just how he tells the difference. I'm pretty sure this means Deja's dead. I can't recall if he shows up beyond this point in the story. Also I know it's a funny reference, and referential humour is a valid type of humour, but this one is dumb. Back in what day, old man?  Milov has his sparing partner for this Deegavengers fight  And so do Jayden and Donovan.  Big boobs but no butt.  so here's the reveal that the Sylvan Oracle is also an Acibek. Important because it means that Dirk doesn't have to die. We don't really know either of these characters as well so I don't know why it matters, , but I guess it sadder if dirk dies because there's a love angle. Mookie sometimes has these revelations, like here, that feel like they're supposed to mean more to the audience then they do. He had this idea for a story twist but he didn't bother building to set up for it to matter or feel important.  See even this. Like oh what a twist!? Except why would spark even try to do something like that? It made no sense, so you knew it was fake. I see this is also supposed to be implying a connection between Luna and Miranda that we never saw play out in panel.  Here's where Luna finally got to start doing stuff  This I find hilarious though. All the Acibek principal they talked up so much turns out to be, is adding an alliterative adjective to the start of your spell  Like I said, Deeganvengers fight. Chapter 12 The Storm of Souls Part 11  Not too bad, except that Klo Tark is a non-character. I feel like this strip hit me more strongly when I was reading it live, because reading the arc drawn out over several days give me a false sense of familiarity with Klo Tark. If you read all the strips together you realize how one note he is.  Mookie likes coming up with explanations to things no one was interested in, like why Dominic would be able to hear Acibek now  Not a bad splash page. Though the effect of the store so literally straining like it's in a paper bag sort of makes it a little silly? I don't hate it though  Celesto doesn't even make sense is a villain anymore. When did he care about oppression and blindness? He's the one who wants to kill all the people who don't conform to his definition of good.  And here any examination of the morality of these two characters gets cut, because now Celesto is under the influence of the storm and is effectively just a big evil enemy to fight  Oh no! A consequence. Maybe Dominic's friends will have to save the day because he was overcome!  No wait! It turns a that Dominic needed to be exposed to chaos so that he could become his true Mary Sue overlord self! What a twist! Thank goodness Dominic is literally the avatar and not just some seer!   I putting these together to deliberately ruin the cliffhanger that Mookie set up, because it serves no point and is stupid.  Could even way to the end of the strip to do the reversal on this one! Again a little setup showing Helixa being in love with Rillian would have helped this have a point.  You know how I said Luna got to do stuff, she stops getting to do stuff at this point  Here's a filler image Mookie drew. It's actually better than what appeared in the strip, though I do find it funny that you can see both of Luna's butt cheeks outlined in her robe as she suffers in agony. Keep on Mookieing!  Love that pose in panel 7! Art!  Thankfully alien Mookie saves Luna! And we get this weird fetishy death sequence for Helixa! No boobs are but this time though! That comes next time she dies.  Dominic gets his power up!  And does his superduper attack move! 3 eyes this time, rear end in a top hat!!! Dominic is now the balance of all elements and to do whatever he wants. Deftly something that this character has earned.    See this is again something that I feel Mookie must've thought was very clever, but is meaningless to us because it's never been set up as a thing before. His mental clothing and armor disappears to fuel the rebuilding of the cage. But like why? It doesn't really add to the story, and it's not really that funny a joke. I don't get why Mookie would think that this was so important to include. I guess this is where the lack of planning comes in, but Mookie just makes these weird narrative choices and includes very strange magical effects that feel like there have to have a point behind them. But I don't know what it is  Mookie opens his third eye and saves dark Mookie from the abyss  Here's where Celesto is irredeemable. It's amazing how much animosity Celesto has developed for this dude he is known for like three weeks. You feel like they should have had a few more adventures opposing each other before this happened  gently caress you Dominic. Celesto is 100% right  I have to admit I love this. The fact that the soul came out with Celesto and that it takes the form of an evil grinning little face like that is great. It just looks so deliciously evil  It's a dude from before!!! And he also does the same thing with Celesto  This confuses me because it seems to imply that Malkish has a body again? Isn't he just a ghost?Just a strange choice given where they are.  Here it is, the famous image. The most masturbatory thing Mookie has ever posted. Literally, given his limp-dicked satyrs. Gonna leave it there for now, since this post is already long, but will post the final 2 sections soon so we can wrap this interminable arc up. As terrible as some aspect of the storm of souls was, I still think it's about as good as Mookie is ever written and doesn't approach the sheer dumbness of some of the things that happen after this point. I can't wait to introduce all to Serk Brakkis and Oblivion Folder again.
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Oct 10, 2020 01:07
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The Little Death posted:Gonna leave it there for now, since this post is already long, but will post the final 2 sections soon so we can wrap this interminable arc up. As terrible as some aspect of the storm of souls was, I still think it's about as good as Mookie is ever written and doesn't approach the sheer dumbness of some of the things that happen after this point. I can't wait to introduce all to Serk Brakkis and Oblivion Folder again. Things are going to get real bad soon. 
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Oct 10, 2020 01:19
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1: I'm getting to the point where I speed-read these because I just can't be assed to care about them when they're gonna just keep making stupid leaf puns while Goku powers up. 2: that said "I see you've made a new friend" is an absolute power move quip in response to your son building a flesh golem and I love the way Dad Deegan manages to just deliver it straight without a stupid lampshade on it.
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Oct 10, 2020 02:43
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i really appreciate these analysis posts, it's a great way to go back through these old comics and far more interesting than keeping with the new comics
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Oct 10, 2020 02:47
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Hostile V posted:2: that said "I see you've made a new friend" is an absolute power move quip in response to your son building a flesh golem and I love the way Dad Deegan manages to just deliver it straight without a stupid lampshade on it. Yeah, that amused me too. Guess a stopped clock is right twice a day. Also, Celesto got "disintegrated" what, three, four times that fight? Come the gently caress on.
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Oct 10, 2020 04:08
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So much of this arc relies on you knowing all the backstory Mookie daydreams about. Dominic and Celesto's bitter rivalry (They met once, a week ago), Luna and Miranda's student-mentor relationship (they also met a week ago), Dominic and Klo Tark's bond (They met YESTERDAY) and Celesto's love for Amelia (FOUR DAYS at most they could've known each other!). It feels like a film that got butchered in editing.
TheHan fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Oct 10, 2020 |
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Oct 10, 2020 04:09
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quote:So much of this arc relies on you know all the backstory Mookie daydreams about. I feel this, so terribly strongly. Like, I recognize what Mookie's doing, I did this back when I was 14. You daydream and fantasize about characters in your head, you think about them, it's faster than putting things out into a story. Going back on something you created and seeing "oh, they really only show up so rarely" can be a surprise, but Mookie doesn't do that. He doesn't go back and go "oh, I never actually established this yet, huh." I love how the climax of this fight includes several "I am behind you, L" "No Kira now I am behind you" level of playground "I SHOT YOU" "no I DODGED" nonsense. Oh no Sparkx is killed! Wait it was an illusion! Oh no Luna's killed! Wait it was an illusion! Oh no Creedo or whatever his name is was killed! Wait he dodged it. Oh no he--wait he dodged it again. Mookie has one trick. He seems to not grow tired of using it a half dozen times in the same scene.
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Oct 10, 2020 04:27
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I may be wrong, but I remember Mookie posting that he had a cat, which pissed me off because Spark looks like a hosed up Pomeranian.
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Oct 10, 2020 04:33
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The Little Death posted:Gonna leave it there for now, since this post is already long, but will post the final 2 sections soon so we can wrap this interminable arc up. As terrible as some aspect of the storm of souls was, I still think it's about as good as Mookie is ever written and doesn't approach the sheer dumbness of some of the things that happen after this point. I can't wait to introduce all to Serk Brakkis and Oblivion Folder again. This is the high point. And it's so bad. But it gets worse from here.  EDIT: rudecyrus posted:I may be wrong, but I remember Mookie posting that he had a cat, which pissed me off because Spark looks like a hosed up Pomeranian. 
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Oct 10, 2020 05:02
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FlocksOfMice posted:I feel this, so terribly strongly. Like, I recognize what Mookie's doing, I did this back when I was 14. You daydream and fantasize about characters in your head, you think about them, it's faster than putting things out into a story. Going back on something you created and seeing "oh, they really only show up so rarely" can be a surprise, but Mookie doesn't do that. He doesn't go back and go "oh, I never actually established this yet, huh." Yeah, it was already starting to get kind of noticeable with the mini-arc of Greg vs. the Chosen (if not sooner), but it’s become so incredibly blatant here at the climax. Props to Celesto for calling Dominic the hell out, though we know that it isn’t going to stick.
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Oct 10, 2020 05:11
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it's ridiculously brutal that luna straight up bites that chick's lips off also jakob high as a kite
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Oct 10, 2020 05:23
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What the gently caress is with the pose of Dadgan there against Quilt? Holy poo poo.
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Oct 10, 2020 05:30
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Miss posted:it's ridiculously brutal that luna straight up bites that chick's lips off  (Whenever you're not sure if it's Luna or someone else, ask yourself "is she doing something?" If the answer is yes, it's not Luna) It's completely at odds with the rest of this tonally and is weirdly gruesome, plus it doesn't even actually do anything. I know Mookie is dumb but since Helaxia can't be killed, why does neither Miranda nor anyone else suggest freezing her in ice or something to incapacitate her without killing her?
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Oct 10, 2020 05:45
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No that's Luna, she has the tusks and Miranda lent her the staff while she went and did... something... else.
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Oct 10, 2020 06:09
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The Little Death posted:I'm pretty sure this means Deja's dead. I can't recall if he shows up beyond this point in the story. if i remember correctly, deja shows up to drop the "oh right, your friends the murderer and the rapist" line on dominic at some point. don't remember how that got resolved, but probably with deja apologising beccause all friends of dominic have to be by transitive property be friends with each other
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Oct 10, 2020 07:24
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One thing brought up a few times in this thread is that often as soon as Dominic learns something, everyone knows it. I think this actually comes directly from Mookie getting most of his narrative experience from (mediocre) DnD. Often in DnD, it's kind of shorthanded or assumed that when a party member learns something, they share it with the group. It saves a bit of time and tedium from reciting whatever just happened, and it's fine in many circumstances. But one thing good groups do but mediocre ones don't is selectively withhold information as a character would. I expect Mookie primarily plays these games for the combat and kindergarten level morality duels, so never put that much nuance into it. He ALSO is probably one of those people who gets annoyed at media where characters have conflict stemming from not talking to each other and sharing information that would clear things up. He might even think that by having everyone know everything, he's subverting that conflict, but I doubt he put that much conscious thought into it.
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Oct 10, 2020 07:31
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Nighthand posted:But one thing good groups do but mediocre ones don't is selectively withhold information as a character would. I expect Mookie primarily plays these games for the combat and kindergarten level morality duels, so never put that much nuance into it. I remember running a game, and we had a warlock with a Great Old One patron reskinned to fit the homebrew setting. He had an artifact with some kinda soul fragment in it that would whisper into his mind. I worked that by writing things on index cards and handing it to him so only he could get that info But since his patron was an eldritch entity whose kind had terrorized the world in past ages and whose followers were largely considered kill-on-sight, he withheld that his artifact was speaking to him and often withheld the information it gave to him.
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Oct 10, 2020 12:29
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This is the closest the comic ever gets to being “good.” It has a few neat concepts like the Elemecca and... that’s kind of it really. If the comic ended here and you got rid of the slut shaming Erossus arc and slur-using jocks, Dominic Deegan as a whole would have been a passable, albeit clumsy and poorly thought out fantasy webcomic. A curiosity of the early-mid 2000s webcomic scene. But no. It gets worse from here. So much worse. This is legitimately the best part of the comic in terms of genuine quality but the ten or so years worth of comic about to follow gets worse and worse. Every lovely thing we’ve seen like Mary Sue superpowers, slut shaming and fantasy bigotry, convoluted planar plot stuff, and flimsy characterization get increasingly magnified from here. I can’t wait tbh. I hate-read original Deegan start to finish last year when the Legacy first came out and I’m excited to see everyone’s reactions to it.
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Oct 10, 2020 15:55
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It's amazing to me that loving Brett Taggerty is important enough to get namedropped in the middle of a cosmic duel over the fate of the world. Imagine if in Infinity War, Thanos mentioned Tom Brady as a reason he's justified to commit genocide. Everyone important in Celesto's life and the fuel behind all his motivations are either people he knew for a couple days/weeks, or only knew second-hand.
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Oct 10, 2020 22:16
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Marin Karin posted:It's amazing to me that loving Brett Taggerty is important enough to get namedropped in the middle of a cosmic duel over the fate of the world. Imagine if in Infinity War, Thanos mentioned Tom Brady as a reason he's justified to commit genocide. Everyone important in Celesto's life and the fuel behind all his motivations are either people he knew for a couple days/weeks, or only knew second-hand. Celesto is one face of All-is-Dominic, therefore his desires are the same as His as the same as the Mookhead. (I think Mookie actually does understand Theory of Mind and could apply it in his comics if he gave a poo poo, but because this is just his day-to-day power fantasies none of it matters.)
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Oct 10, 2020 22:23
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Celesto could have even name-dropped himself as a reason why humanity deserves to be smited, by admitting how much he loathes himself for giving in to his worst urges (murdering Brett) the very moment he had the power to make it happen. So, if even he can’t live up to his own ideals, what hope does the rest of humanity have, in his view? But that would require some actual introspection for him, and... We all know how Mookie handles that.
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Oct 10, 2020 22:41
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There’s also the fact that Mookie thinks Celesto is right in his beliefs, just wrong in his actions. In his own words, Celesto’s flaw is that he sees an “infection” (Jocks and women who have sex) and wants to amputate the whole arm, even though there’s still some good in it! If Celesto stuck to exploding people Dominic doesn’t like, like some Incel Avenging Angel, he’d be a saint to the Deegans.
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Oct 10, 2020 23:00
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No one involved in these strips even met Brett!! Yeah Celesto went and killed him, but he never truly spoke with him or anything. It's an amazing microcosm of Mookie's pathetic worldview that this random jerk athlete is used as a major symbol of the world's evil and oppression. Celesto doesn't even know he did things like punch Pam, just that he... slept with his sex worker girlfriend? That he knew was an active sex worker? And Mookie wrote this nodding to himself how sympathetic and well-meaning Celesto is. There is something to be said of a system that allows athletes to get away with anything. But there is no talk of systematic issues, just "those damned jocks stole Kimberly away from me!!!  "
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Oct 10, 2020 23:15
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Regalingualius posted:Celesto could have even name-dropped himself as a reason why humanity deserves to be smited, by admitting how much he loathes himself for giving in to his worst urges (murdering Brett) the very moment he had the power to make it happen. So, if even he can’t live up to his own ideals, what hope does the rest of humanity have, in his view? A murderous agent of chaos deciding civilization needs eradicated because not only do people like him exist but that he was elevated to a "champion" would be a neat idea But yeah there's no way Mookie is capable of that kinda nuance
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Oct 10, 2020 23:21
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duh, celesto didn't exist until dominic scryed him boning his bff
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Oct 10, 2020 23:27
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Skypie posted:A murderous agent of chaos deciding civilization needs eradicated because not only do people like him exist but that he was elevated to a "champion" would be a neat idea Too bad he hadn't read Emperor Joker, he could've ripped that off. Course Mookie's so bad at ripping things off Celesto would've inexplicably turned into a clown mid-story.
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Oct 10, 2020 23:34
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As it's been established, Seers only have to want to see something and they can see it whenever the gently caress they want. Dominic says the only reason he didn't know everything that happened between his mom and sexy necromancer was he didn't bother to watch it. So obviously every seer, at least, should be assumed to be aware of anything that's happened in the comic until said otherwise, and then they probably catch up on the next strip, because lol imagining having to keep track of what character knows what??
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Oct 11, 2020 00:20
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Every seer in the world keeps up with the adventures of the Deegan family. For non-seers there's a weekly summary.
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Oct 11, 2020 08:43
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there's only like, 300 people in the entire world, tops. who else they gonna keep up with?
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Oct 11, 2020 09:04
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This is a terrible final showdown and the fact that every time Dominic is actually called on to fight, it's purely GIANT EYE BLAST and nothing else, ever, not a single time... It's the worst!
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Oct 11, 2020 09:22
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Unrelated to the current happenings, but every time I remember Mookie came up with "Seer's Catalog" I want to kick something.
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Oct 11, 2020 09:46
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Joe Slowboat posted:This is a terrible final showdown and the fact that every time Dominic is actually called on to fight, it's purely GIANT EYE BLAST and nothing else, ever, not a single time... But if it isn't a giant eye blast how will you know how smart dominic is?
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Oct 11, 2020 09:57
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Howard Beale posted:Unrelated to the current happenings, but every time I remember Mookie came up with "Seer's Catalog" I want to kick something. he's very proud of coming up with that
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Oct 11, 2020 10:57
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Joe Slowboat posted:This is a terrible final showdown and the fact that every time Dominic is actually called on to fight, it's purely GIANT EYE BLAST and nothing else, ever, not a single time... Now, be fair. Sometimes he does a giant eye blast and also shouts "SEE THE TRUTH!"
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Oct 11, 2020 11:22
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It's the DBZ style of combat, where you win because you yelled louder, were the good guy, and your laser beam was BIGGEST. As opposed to... any interesting way of storytelling where you have stakes that mean anything and the character seems clever for figuring out a novel way of winning. No, just "my stat is higher than yours, I WIN!" Like, it just makes for a deeply unsatisfying victory. Even in lovely fanfics, a character might win because they used this specific power or this sort of trick. Deegan just wins because "haha, MINDBLAST." It means nothing. It's literally described in the setting as just a manifestation of his force of will, but he doesn't even come across as a particularly self-assured, willful person, just someone who is aware he's a main character. gently caress, that's what it is, isn't it. This is a metanarratively parasitized world and we're watching a Mary Sue virus infect the story and conquer it. This genre isn't shonen, it's cosmic horror. We see it with Celestro when he gets narratively corrupted by proximity to Deegan. Anything about who he was is ovewritten as a PERSON to suit Dommie's needs in a villain. His entire identity is destroyed and reshaped into a convenient counterpart for the Mary Sue parasite entity. gently caress that's why Luna becomes incapable of thinking about herself except in relation to Dominick, her narrative identity has been CORRUPTED by this virus! We were never watching the adventures of a silly seer destined to save the world, we were watching the late-stage infection of a fictional universe by a Mary Sue.
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Oct 11, 2020 11:29
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FlocksOfMice posted:It's the DBZ style of combat, where you win because you yelled louder, were the good guy, and your laser beam was BIGGEST. This makes Legacy work as a horror sequel too. Centuries after Dominic's (presumable) death, the curse lingers. Some random yokel living in the middle of nowhere just catches a glimpse of the name Dominic Deegan and it instantly becomes the focus of his entire existence. Even after his home is destroyed by a fellow Deegan devotee, he finds himself joining her. Why? Because even though she's incredibly untrustworthy and dangerous, there's a slim chance that she can help him learn more about the one thing that truly matters in this world: some guy called Dominic Deegan. Even being dimly aware of his existence is enough to turn you into a fawning accessory to Dominic Deegan. He doesn't even have to be alive. This sad little universe will revolve around him for eternity.
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Oct 11, 2020 12:20
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TheHan posted:Too bad he hadn't read Emperor Joker, he could've ripped that off.
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Oct 11, 2020 12:25
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