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e: I'm wrong and can't read e2: Oh wait, put the Wild Edge tour guides in the Character Assassination circle. super sweet best pal fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Sep 16, 2020 |
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Sep 16, 2020 04:00
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One thing that gets me about this plot arc is that it's completely unclear why Amelia wants to kill Luna in the first place. Nothing about their relationship is exposed that seems to give reason for it. She gets killed trying to organize someone's murder for basically no reason. It could have been an inheritance dispute but Luna was already out of that race. Why was killing Luna on this woman's bucket list? It's so weird.
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Sep 16, 2020 04:14
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:I'm kind of okay with this one. She's just an enchantress from what I can recall, and Bumper gets her by surprise from behind. You might reasonably assume that sort of magic requires eye contact, and even if not, considering Bumper got her so quickly and had time to mentally prepare himself, I'd definitely buy that yeah, she's got nothing to defend with. But she shot a bolt of force at Tim to free him from the ice shell Miranda's illusion heart trap encased him in. I'm familiar with 3.5, but if Mookie doesn't say that x or y works that way, then he isn't allowed to lean on those conventions. Riot Bus posted:One thing that gets me about this plot arc is that it's completely unclear why Amelia wants to kill Luna in the first place. Nothing about their relationship is exposed that seems to give reason for it. She gets killed trying to organize someone's murder for basically no reason.
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Sep 16, 2020 04:26
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Invisible Clergy posted:But she shot a bolt of force at Tim to free him from the ice shell Miranda's illusion heart trap encased him in. I'm familiar with 3.5, but if Mookie doesn't say that x or y works that way, then he isn't allowed to lean on those conventions. True enough. Riot Bus posted:One thing that gets me about this plot arc is that it's completely unclear why Amelia wants to kill Luna in the first place. Nothing about their relationship is exposed that seems to give reason for it. She gets killed trying to organize someone's murder for basically no reason. She's evil. Remember that despite including things like rape, genocide, and so on, Mookie and his stories are all extremely childish - by his own admission everything is black and white. Bad guys do bad guy things because they are bad guys. 'Villainess' isn't merely a description of her role in the story, it's also her motivation and her backstory.
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Sep 16, 2020 04:29
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The "real men wear pink" thing is another dumb anachronism. Pink and blue being for boys and girls wasn't even a thing until relatively recently when toy and clothing companies figured out they could market things better that way.
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Sep 16, 2020 05:24
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PoptartsNinja posted:Did I miss anyone? Ha, nice file name.
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Sep 16, 2020 05:28
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This DD arc really also seems to be where Mookie went all-in on just recreating stuff from his favorite animes. Everyone pulls new powers out of their rear end until the story is resolved.
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Sep 16, 2020 08:48
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Invisible Clergy posted:How did Celesto not see Stunt coming? He's a seer who's better than Dominic. Furthermore, why did Stunt, the psychotic throat-slitter, not cdg Celesto after knocking him out after the bad stuff Celesto's done, or at least try since Celesto has plot armor? If he had wanted to kill Celesto, then Celesto would have gotten a vision and he couldn't have snuck upon Celesto.  
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Sep 16, 2020 09:57
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Marin Karin posted:This is what kills me. He has no artistic conviction, even if it'd be misguided in this circumstance. He instantly folds and changes his entire story so people don't hurt his feelings. I think with the call-out he might have realised that he hosed up and wrote the ink witch as a gross abuser, and he's mad at himself that he did that to a character he wants to gently caress. The meandering since is because he doesn't know how to deal with that.
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Sep 16, 2020 10:27
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TheHan posted:What if he said that but with 100x the words? hahahaahha gently caress no
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Sep 16, 2020 17:29
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There's just something about Dominic's Mom & Dad being extremely powerful important characters who are very good at everything they do and also bail their baby boy out of trouble near-effortlessly that just makes me go really, mookie
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Sep 16, 2020 18:20
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I can see the thought process. "Huh, lots of anime has the parents be dead or useless. I'm going to make them alive and helpful to subvert expectations!" But, as almost every story that subverts expectations solely for the sake of subverting them does, he fails to deliver on why the subversion matters, or having any sort of commentary at all to make it meaningful or enjoyable. His parents are just extensions of Dominic, 'I win' buttons with legs, and a way to passive-aggressively poo poo on his inlaws later.
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Sep 16, 2020 18:58
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He even calls them a deus ex machina in-universe. Did he never hear that the biggest complaint about them is that they defuse all conflict from a story? And he pretty readily demonstrates that by doing the whole fakeout with Miranda getting her heart ripped out, only to reveal that it was actually just an advanced illusion and actually played right into her “real” plan.
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Sep 16, 2020 19:09
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Pyrotoad posted:I can see the thought process. "Huh, lots of anime has the parents be dead or useless. I'm going to make them alive and helpful to subvert expectations!" Miranda's also a way to deal with what I can only assume is some sort of weird Oedipus complex. Case in Point Chapter 10 Esctasy and Evil Part 8  Dominic enters the mindscape of Szark and confronts Karnak  We establish that souls exist independently within the mindscape, and that mindscapes are metaphorical planes of existence reflecting the mental state of the owner.  'i hate this set-up. Demon stories work best when they lead people to their own ruin, but Mookie's description make is sound more like Karnak infected Szark with evil. The idea of Szark's soul being Karnak's is bad because Karnak imposed the change on Szark. Admittedly this is personal preference but I really hate when people take that element out of stories like this. Also dead titties  What Karnak apparently didn't count on is that all Seers are super geniuses who become literal demigod figures on "Psychoplanes".  Big bang boom. Karnak has been eliminated as a threat. Like I said, the idea of a demon "corrupting" a friend takes all the poetic imagery out of it. A good story would have examined why Szark felt he could do what he did, what tipping piont the demon gave him. Otherwise the redemption isn't earned.  Out of nowhere, Mookie has a vision of his mom with another man. I mean, Dominic does. Nothing to read into here at all!  Dominic is very judgy about his mom's sex life.   So here's the thing. I'm uncomfortable with the way Mookie syllogizes bloodlust with general perversion. Given Szark's status as the only LGBT character (except that one trans character who pops up to show Mookie's acceptance of trans people much later on), and given the depraved bisexual trope, this feels particularly uncomfortable. It just totally links his desire for dominic with a desire for murder.    Remember when I said unearned redemption? Well here it is. Dominic does a Tien impersonation and fixes everything. What about Dark Szark? doesn't matter anymore, though I guess not dealing with him could be used to justify those later creepy fantasies Szark has of murdering Luna to steal dominic away.  I love these recap strips, as if repeating what just happens in any way justifies how lazy and random it was.  like I said, Oedipus complex. Mom, you have a lot to answer for based on that vision of you having sex I had.   It's ok, Momeegan stayed pure. If you were going to do this, why wouldn't you have it be that she loved him in the past! That's compelling! This is just creepy! Also again lol that his demon lord, who is the patron of the infernomancer who was in no way looking for Dominic before, is now totally enmeshed with the Deegan family story. See, it's like Rey being Palpatine's granddaughter, or Anakin building C-3PO. It just makes the world feel small and fake.  Good questions that are never answered lol. HERE IT COMES. THE ICONIC.  Look at this. Just take it all in. It's sublime in its awfulness.  Again, Dominic is a killjoy prude. Chapter 10 Esctasy and Evil Part 9  any excuse to draw titties, eh Mookie?  Here's what I think is funny, only a few strips after that extremly debasing strip with Amelia, dead with her rear end in the air, Mookie has this strip. This, right at the end of the story, adds some more compellign motivations to Celesto's confused love story, and seems to want to make Amelia a more complex character. But none of this is EVER ADDRESSED OR MENTIONED AGAIN! Dominic never has any followup event that could link thematically, no one ever revisists Amelia's death, and even Celesto doesn't ever bring it up later when he turns evil. This I feel has to be cargo culting on the part of Mookie, he knows other stories ask questions like this, but doesn't get why.  Who are you kidding Luna?    Again, Szark is off to the church for penance, gives his money up, an easy wrap up that basically uses his money to absolve Szark of any blame. Mookie does try to make Szark a bit of a tortured figure, but mostly him being gay for Dominic is what he will be from this point on.  Did Donovan buy penis jelly-beans? or what else could they be shaped like?  The inlaws love her!  and it ends with a summary strip setting up stuff for the Storm of Souls arc. Again, that attack is enormously important to future stories, but essentially happens off-screen. This arc in retrospect is really, really creepy. There's just so many weird red flags all throughtout it. I feel like this is the point when Mookie left the DND group too. the previous stories felt like DND adventures. This one felt like a Chick Tract. Also the whole "seeing mom have sex with a demon" thing really hit me this time around. It's just such a weird place to take the story and given Mookie's hangups with sex in other areas, just feels gross? It's not even like he saw them kissing, Karnak is naked in the scene he drew. It's just ick, to have Dominic confront his mom on that. Beelzebufo fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Sep 16, 2020 |
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Sep 16, 2020 19:39
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Wow, a story terrible from beginning to end, but y’now I think I can see how he built an audience around this turd now. It’s less a story and more a collection of tropes and emotional beats from better media, plus it’s all such shameless wish fulfillment for nerds. Like Dominic owned Karnak in less than a page with his big boy nerd brain, with none of the lead up or struggle. That’s gotta appeal to a pretty large niche of people.
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Sep 16, 2020 20:25
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Yeah I had actually forgotten how horrible this arc in particular was. I remembered it as a little dumb but not bad. I think my brain worked around that narrative that DD peaked and went downhill at Storm of Souls, but now I'm wondering what I've forgotten from that arc too.
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Sep 16, 2020 21:04
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rannum posted:There's just something about Dominic's Mom & Dad being extremely powerful important characters who are very good at everything they do and also bail their baby boy out of trouble near-effortlessly that just makes me go really, mookie I can't help but go back to my "sick of this poo poo" concept for Dominic here because a guy who got sick of his ludicrous demon-haunted youth, his absurdly powerful and renowned parents, and just wanted to get away from it all and moved to fantasy Bismark, ND would be a character! You've got reasons for him to be a curmudgeon and while he clearly dislikes where the story finds him, he still prefers it to being waited on hand and foot by his parents who solve his every problem. But again, that would require Mookie to not want to just be Dominic. TheHan posted:Wow, a story terrible from beginning to end, but y’now I think I can see how he built an audience around this turd now. It’s less a story and more a collection of tropes and emotional beats from better media, plus it’s all such shameless wish fulfillment for nerds. Like Dominic owned Karnak in less than a page with his big boy nerd brain, with none of the lead up or struggle. That’s gotta appeal to a pretty large niche of people. Also, very much this. It was 2005! The put-upon nerd who owns everyone with how cool they actually are was huge. It still is, but at least now it's a lot more likely to get mocked out of the gate.
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Sep 16, 2020 21:18
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The Little Death posted:Miranda's also a way to deal with what I can only assume is some sort of weird Oedipus complex. What are you talking about? There's nothing weird about this at all. 
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Sep 17, 2020 01:41
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Like I said, I expected a slow ramp up in awfulness, but this story arc just slammed on the accelerator. It has all the previous issues of the comic, but also tosses on like, a dozen new issues at the same time. Certainly wasn't expecting an Oedipus Complex, that's for sure.
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Sep 17, 2020 01:54
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Storm of Souls is probably the high point of the comic, low of a bar as that is. It'll be all downhill after it's over.
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Sep 17, 2020 02:28
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Cat Mattress posted:If he had wanted to kill Celesto, then Celesto would have gotten a vision and he couldn't have snuck upon Celesto. YF-23 posted:I think with the call-out he might have realised that he hosed up and wrote the ink witch as a gross abuser, and he's mad at himself that he did that to a character he wants to gently caress. The meandering since is because he doesn't know how to deal with that. Pyrotoad posted:I can see the thought process. "Huh, lots of anime has the parents be dead or useless. I'm going to make them alive and helpful to subvert expectations!" The reason shonen animes have parents be dead, evil, or frozen in ice is so they can't solve all the main's problems. But since Dominic already obviates conflict the second it's introduced, it's not much of a change when Donovan or Miranda obviate conflict the second it's introduced for him. The Little Death posted:Miranda's also a way to deal with what I can only assume is some sort of weird Oedipus complex. quote:Dominic is very judgy about his mom's sex life. quote:So here's the thing. I'm uncomfortable with the way Mookie syllogizes bloodlust with general perversion. Given Szark's status as the only LGBT character (except that one trans character who pops up to show Mookie's acceptance of trans people much later on), and given the depraved bisexual trope, this feels particularly uncomfortable. It just totally links his desire for dominic with a desire for murder. quote:I love these recap strips, as if repeating what just happens in any way justifies how lazy and random it was. quote:Again, Szark is off to the church for penance, gives his money up, an easy wrap up that basically uses his money to absolve Szark of any blame. Mookie does try to make Szark a bit of a tortured figure, but mostly him being gay for Dominic is what he will be from this point on. Great update. This arc is worse than I remember it. I forgot all this Karnak poo poo was in the Erossus storyline.
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Sep 17, 2020 04:01
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Invisible Clergy posted:Great update. This arc is worse than I remember it. I forgot all this Karnak poo poo was in the Erossus storyline. Yeah I had totally forgotten that this was a) where Karnak is introduced and b) where the infernomancer attacks Miranda's school and where he's banished to the shadowrealm. That happened way sooner than I though.
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Sep 17, 2020 04:11
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Was any of that stuff about Luna’s sister not being completely evil ever alluded to in the strips that got skipped over, or is this the first time we the audience found out about her work on behalf of the city’s prostitutes? If it’s the latter, then that’s yet another bit of wasted potential for nuance by explaining her motivations for everything that she was behind in this arc. Even if the end result’s the same, you could maybe throw in something like “all of Szark’s rich opponents were also known to be awful to the brothels” to give her something beyond wanting their money. ...Actually, hell, is it just me, or do an awful lot of the women villains/antagonists have really simplistic goals compared to their male counterparts? Because the two we’ve seen so far had the exact same plan (“drive loved one to suicide and get rich”). Sure, TIM’s motivations aren’t much better, but at least they’re something other than “bitches want money”.
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Sep 17, 2020 04:28
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Regalingualius posted:Was any of that stuff about Luna’s sister not being completely evil ever alluded to in the strips that got skipped over, or is this the first time we the audience found out about her work on behalf of the city’s prostitutes? If it’s the latter, then that’s yet another bit of wasted potential for nuance by explaining her motivations for everything that she was behind in this arc. Even if the end result’s the same, you could maybe throw in something like “all of Szark’s rich opponents were also known to be awful to the brothels” to give her something beyond wanting their money. nope first time it's mentioned anywhere. You didn't even know the pleasure princesses were an organization and not just her until that strip.
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Sep 17, 2020 04:31
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I remember most of the bad stuff, but it's fun how there's always something else I didn't remember - in this case, Dominic's "MOM, DID YOU gently caress KARNAK?!" poo poo.Invisible Clergy posted:You know, as dumb as that is, I can't argue with that. It makes sense through Mookie logic. What is that? Homestuck? Trixie Slaughteraxe for President. The guy behind it puts an insane amount of thought behind how creatures, magic, and magic items work in the story. In this case the characters are trying to escape from someone who has a magic item that shows you how you'll die.
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Sep 17, 2020 04:33
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Comparing the amount of thought that Mookie and Thorsby put into their writing is like comparing a raindrop to the ocean.
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Sep 17, 2020 04:40
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Actually I know recall a passage where Mookie retroactively character assassinates Amelia. So look forward to that.
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Sep 17, 2020 04:43
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super sweet best pal posted:Storm of Souls is probably the high point of the comic, low of a bar as that is. It'll be all downhill after it's over. Even back as a dumb teen reading and enjoying DD I remember thinking "wait, after this epic save the world story, how will the comic keep going?" Turns out, poorly!
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Sep 17, 2020 05:16
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The Little Death posted:Actually I know recall a passage where Mookie retroactively character assassinates Amelia. So look forward to that. How do you character assassinate someone with no character?
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Sep 17, 2020 05:22
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The Little Death posted:
Zerilan posted:Comparing the amount of thought that Mookie and Thorsby put into their writing is like comparing a raindrop to the ocean.
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Sep 17, 2020 06:23
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Szark got over his wife being murdered really fast. Also jesus loving christ, those cops. It's the sex city so of course they cant have normal uniforms, they have to be really depraved and perverse so just put them in their underwear.
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Sep 17, 2020 06:49
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Regalingualius posted:Was any of that stuff about Luna’s sister not being completely evil ever alluded to in the strips that got skipped over, or is this the first time we the audience found out about her work on behalf of the city’s prostitutes? If it’s the latter, then that’s yet another bit of wasted potential for nuance by explaining her motivations for everything that she was behind in this arc. Even if the end result’s the same, you could maybe throw in something like “all of Szark’s rich opponents were also known to be awful to the brothels” to give her something beyond wanting their money. Like most shonen heroes being orphans, Mookie doesn't understand why the bad guy will usually try to justify their actions when being led away in handcuffs in front of the good guy, so his troper brain just includes it by rote since he sees it in the speculative mass media he consumes. Your standard cargo cult writing like everything else on display here. quote:...Actually, hell, is it just me, or do an awful lot of the women villains/antagonists have really simplistic goals compared to their male counterparts? Because the two we’ve seen so far had the exact same plan (“drive loved one to suicide and get rich”). Sure, TIM’s motivations aren’t much better, but at least they’re something other than “bitches want money”. Heliotrope posted:I remember most of the bad stuff, but it's fun how there's always something else I didn't remember - in this case, Dominic's "MOM, DID YOU gently caress KARNAK?!" poo poo.
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Sep 17, 2020 06:53
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Thorsby's also completed a few other comics and they are all amazing convoluted stories that go insane places but are incredibly well thought out.
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Sep 17, 2020 07:00
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I think the first time I read Dominic Deegan (in a previous mock thread) the "see the truth" panel just kind of stuck to my head. You have Karnak talking a big game, and Szark's evil side talking a big game, and in both cases Dominic basically just ignores everything they say and presses an "I win" button. Twice. Why even bother with the set up? Why show us the mindscape? Just skip from Dominic leaning into Szark to him getting pushed back with blood running from his nose! Instead of introducing a conflict that just gets resolved by the main character shouting "SEE THE TRUTH". In any normal comic that would have been the set-up for starting a fight sequence, not the killing blow.
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Sep 17, 2020 08:04
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Again, Mookie learned the wrong lesson from watching Professor X fight enemies in the Astral Plane on the 92 animated x-men series. They were fun to watch not because of the very end when he beat the bad guy, but because of the... fight that he went through with the bad guy when they used their imaginations to attack each other with swords and armor and swarms of mind bees or whatever. And sometimes Professor X lost, like when he tried to fight Dark Phoenix on the Astral Plane. He didn't enter Jean's mind and say "Time to put those mental blocks up, Miss Gray: gently caress YOU SEE THE TRUTH!" and shoot a stream of capellini out of a gem that magically appeared in the middle of his forehead.
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Sep 17, 2020 09:15
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Heliotrope posted:Trixie Slaughteraxe for President. The guy behind it puts an insane amount of thought behind how creatures, magic, and magic items work in the story. In this case the characters are trying to escape from someone who has a magic item that shows you how you'll die. Just gonna quote this and say Trixie Slaughteraxe for President loving rules
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Sep 17, 2020 09:52
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I'm really enjoying it so far. It's such a refreshing surprise to see original monsters instead of dnd stuff. I like the attention to detail with the magic system too. I love the stupid last names everyone has. The continuous scroll mode is a godsend as well. I wish all webcomics had this option. Looks like it's pretty short so I should be done soon. Are his other comics in a shared universe or is there any particular order I ought to read them in?
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Sep 17, 2020 10:04
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They're not a shared universe. Hitmen for Destiny is his longest one and it's my favourite. It's one of his earliest works and it's notably a lot rougher, but it feels like it's brimming with crazy ideas that Thorsby has been cooking up in his brain for years. Accidental Space Spy and Transdimensional Brain Chip take some extremely wacky concepts to their most extreme possible conclusions, but they end up feeling a bit half-baked story-wise for me. It's so hard to recommend Thorsby's comics to people because of the art, but they absolutely rule and the art even starts to grow on you.
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Sep 17, 2020 10:11
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You know what, like FuegoFish said, while good art can't save bad writing, good writing can mitigate bad art. I'm reading these for the humor and magic puzzles, so I don't really care if the humans are stiffly posed ms paint turnarounds. Even with whatever limitations are imposed by the program he's using to draw, I'm digging these nonhuman races and monsters and stuff. They're very imaginative. If the others are like this, I'm game. I'd probably like to go shortest to longest if you can eyeball that.
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Sep 17, 2020 10:20
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The shortest one is Lies, Sisters and Wives, which is just a 35 page comical farce. Transdimensional Brain chip is the next shortest at 188 pages, then it goes Trixie, Accidental Space Spy and finally Hitmen for Destiny.
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Sep 17, 2020 10:26
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