History Headscratchers / Bone

* I've read in several places on this wiki that Phoney becomes less greedy and selfish as the story goes on. How exactly? Even as the Locust's forces are about to overthrow Atheia, kill everyone inside and seal the fate of the world, he plans to steal the city's treasure and escape from the ghost circle-surrounded city. It's the most villainous plan he came up with in the whole story, not to say [[WhatAnIdiot the stupidest one]].

* Why did Phoney Bone take over Barrehaven? Didnt he just want to go back to Boneville and lie about being a Dragonslayer for personal gain?

* Can I just say that the ending really kind of bugs me in general? For all its dark moments, Bone always felt like the kind of comic that deserved "smiles and a happy ending" as Watsuki (creator of Rurouni Kenshin, kind of a stupidly obscure reference to make here, but I like the phrase) would put it. I mean, did a lot of the characters have completely irreconcilable wishes? Yes. But I never felt like the story was really about the Bones as cousins/their status as outsiders/their desire to stay united and return home. That was what Phoney's story was about, to be sure (when it was serious), but Fone's story was always more focused on his relationship with Thorn, and Smiley's sort of wound up focusing on Bartleby. Granted I'm not sure that splitting up the Bones would have been a better ending, and I could understand Jeff Smith not wanting to draw a scenario in which Fone "gets the girl," seeing as they're clearly not the same species. But we're never actually given any sense of what sorts of lives the Bones had back in Boneville, aside from a few descriptions of Phoney's antics. Contrastingly, we -do- see them basically build lives in the valley over the course of their adventures. So Phoney's fixation on returning to Boneville (I'm convinced that Smiley has nowhere near that strong a desire to return--he seems willing to just go with the flow) comes off as... basically hollow, like his general greed/scheming. The logical story progression seemed to me to be the discovery of the Bones that their old lives didn't mean that much to them, compared to this place they've just helped to save. So the "everyone is ironically unhappy" ending felt like a very ill fit. And really, I know Jeff Smith was always good at juxtaposing seriousness and comedy, but I don't think it's a good idea to do a completely heartrending scene and then swap back to gags for the last page or so... it's sort of tonal dissonance to me, kinda like the ending of Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog. I know part of it is just me whining because Thorn and Fone's goodbye is such a downer, but the story just didn't seem like it was building towards a bittersweet-unhappy ending. I mean, Bone is often compared to Lord of the Rings, and yeah, Frodo saves the world only to have to leave it behind, but that story was always about how those who fight evil are always damaged irrevocably by the struggle (and if we go back to the whole idea that LOTR is a metaphor for Tolkein's experiences in WWII...). Bone didn't have that kind of theme going for it, it sort of had a lot more about relationships and family/adopted family. So maybe there's a thematic reason for certain people to split up and not others, but the bittersweet ending was certainly not a thematic necessity (and I mean, Bone was a really good story but it never seemed like it had all that much theme to it anyway, at least not beyond a sort of Star Wars level). I dunno, anyone else? [/textwall]
** My take, to be honest, is that on a meta level, the Bones could never have stayed in the valley because they're not from the right kind of story. The Bones come from a toonworld; the main story takes place in a Tolkienesque fantasy world. They can cross over for the duration of the main plot, but they can't stay forever because they don't really run on the same rules of physics as the rest of the valley's inhabitants.
** I figured the Bones would inevitably return home, but I agree, Thorn and Fone Bone parting ways was a HUGE downer. I literally cried the first time I read it. But I'm relatively alright with the ending, because you know they'll never forget each other... plus, if Fone had stayed, it would undermine his relationship with his cousins heavily. I mean, it makes me think of when Fone first meets Thorn and doesn't seem to even know what Boneville is. Anyway, long story short, it's not the best ending ever, but it's at least fitting.
** I side with whoever posted this one. I figured that the logical ending would be for them to stay in the valley. Heck, Smith could've had Phoney take over the Barrelhaven. Considering that's what Phoney wanted all along, that would be a rather poignant arc for him.
** I'm kinda torn here--I do agree that they probably ''did'' need to head back to Boneville, but...them staying might have been a better ending than what we ''got''. The return was too abrupt: if they'd been finally getting ready to head home when the main dramatic plot finally hit, it ''would'' have made sense for it to end with them heading back to Boneville. If they'd decided during it that, if they made it through, they'd go back to Boneville, it'd have worked fine. Actually, just a throwaway of "And now let's leave ''before'' Phoney wears out our welcome!" would have gone far...
** Any work inspired by ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is almost obligated to have a BittersweetEnding. Aside from the usual difficulties of any InterspeciesRomance, Bone's affection was for Thorn, the village girl who likes honey and talks to bugs. She has been forced to grow up fast - she's a freakin' queen with superpowers! Her responsibility is to her kingdom: his responsibility is to his family (let's face it, he's TheReliableOne ''and'' the OnlySaneMan). Letting go of the relationship and drifting into the two different worlds they're heading toward isn't the standard Hollywood ending, but it's not a ''bad'' ending.
** My main problem with the ending is I felt Phoney got gypped. The guy had been through a huge BreakTheHaughty arc and (mostly) came through as a better person, but the leaves the adventure nothing but poorer for the experience. Rather than the coins with his face on them being a final reinforcer as being the ButtMonkey, I was hoping he'd be happy to have gotten to keep them, thinking "At least it wasn't a total loss." Instead he's just forced to go out through the desert, bitter and miserable.

* BONE being made into a computer-generated movie with MOTION CAPTURE!

** Actually, it's more likely he got the piece when the locust swarm tried to take him at the rat creature temple. Much like with Thorn whe she got her share, he was unconscious and vulnerable. The Locust tried to invade but Fone got a dragon necklace thrown around his neck before he could be fully possessed. The little bit of the literal nightmare being that had gotten inside was cut off from the whole and the rest is history.

** Actually, it's more likely he got the piece when the locust swarm tried to take him at the rat creature temple. Much like with Thorn, he was unconscious and vulnerable. The Locust tried to invade but Fone got a dragon necklace thrown around his neck before he could be fully possessed. The little bit of the literal nightmare being that had gotten inside was cut off from the whole and the rest is history.

** Jeff Smith has outright stated that ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' was a big, big influence on his works, and the Bones are [[strike: probably]] without question his version of Hobbits. From the hints the Fone, Phoney, and Smiley have given about Boneville - plus the fact that they are apparently familiar with much more advanced technology than those in the Valley - it sounds like a near-direct Expy of Hobbiton.

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<<|ItJustBugsMe|>>

** WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: ''DisneyAdventures'' [[WhatWereYouThinking somehow considered]] this comic appropriate for their target demographic and ran excerpts from the first six issues. Needless to say, it suffered some {{Bowdlerization}} in the form of all uses of the words "God" and "beer" being changed to "Gosh" and "soda". Also, they cut out the scene where Fone Bone helps Thorn take a bath, as well as Phoney's first encounter with the Hooded One.

* What happened to Mim when all the dragons brought her down? Is Deren Gard a lot more cramped now? Is she now '''[[SamuraiJack BEEEEFFFF JERRRRKKKKKYYY]]'''?

[[WMG:Main/{{Bone}}]]

** Jeff Smith has outright stated that LordOfTheRings was a big, big influence on his works, and the Bones are [[strike: probably]] without question his version of Hobbits. From the hints the Fone, Phoney, and Smiley have given about Boneville - plus the fact that they are apparently familiar with much more advanced technology than those in the Valley - it sounds like a near-direct Expy of Hobbiton.

** Any work inspired by ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is almost obligated to have a BittersweetEnding. Aside from the usual difficulties of any InterspeciesRomance, Bone's affection was for Thorn, the village girl who likes honey and talks to bugs. She has been forced to grow up fast - let's face it, now she's a queen with superpowers. Her responsibility is to her kingdom: his responsibility is to his family (let's face it, he's the OnlySaneMan and the ReliableOne). Letting go of the relationship and drifting into the two different worlds they're heading toward isn't the standard Hollywood ending, but it's not a ''bad'' ending.