Heartwarming / Goblins

• The part of the rescue arc where everyone bands together to save Fumbles, from Big Ears' reiteration of "Right, so what's the plan?" to Complains walking away to fume, then deciding "Screw it, I'll take them all on".
• While Complains' screaming banzai charge against the Elite Guard was an unquestioned Moment of Awesome, it becomes a Moment Of Heartwarming as well in the context of this older strip which tells you what his battlecry means.
• The monsters banding together to escape. A minotaur charges forward to grab the west gate and stop it from closing, then takes a bunch of crossbow bolts to the face. But as he slumps, the gate lowering, the hands of a couple other large monsters reach forward to catch and lift it.
• This particular story arc involving the blind ogre Pan and his paraplegic, mute kobold companion Yala. See Tear Jerker.
• With the front gate open, the monsters rush to get out— except for one kobold, who is too injured to walk and gets knocked down by the crowd. We see him struggling to stand up as he's left behind, desperately reaching out toward the gate as the last of the crowd vanishes through it... and just as it seems that hope is lost, a passing minotaur (from the looks of it, the same one who held open the west gate) scoops him up into its arms, along with no less than five others who needed help. A minotaur who is clearly terrified and bleeding from multiple injuries, but carries all of them out and away from the city.
• Also, when Kin gets her (fully deserved) revenge on Dellyn, which incidentally saves Minmax and Forgath the trouble of doing it themselves. It was coming for quite some time, and after what he had put her through, finished off that plot point nicely.
  • Her reaction when she escapes the city and is finally free. is also a Heartwarming Moment.
• The author of the comic recently got one as well. TL;DR: Hi, guys, my wife and I are going to be kicked out of our house if we don't pay for it right now. But I am not going to ask you because that'd be disrespectful. Come hang out with us anytime.
  • On the subject of the author, we would be remiss not to mention this little gem.
  • On the subject of the house, Elli recently gave in to both her own misgivings and reader pressure to at least try to raise the $30,000 they needed. She put up Tempts Fate 11 with an eventual goal of $30,000 and a July 21st goal of $7,500. By July 21st, Tempts Fate was already going to live through the entire thing, the fans having raised the entire amount within the five days. To say Elli's been crying tears of happiness is a bit of an understatement.
• Klik's death...all he wanted to be is held by Dies once more...after he sacrificed himself to weaken his green counterpart.
• When you make it through the horror of this alternate reality, you hit the last couple of sentences. Before she was murdered, Kin talked about how she was looking for a jade teapot that could teleport you to a person, no matter where they were. [Minmax] wondered what would happen if you had the teapot take you to someone after they died. He was going to find out.
• This. And this. In spite of all the crap they give each other, they really do care about each other.
• This page is a cavalcade of heartwarming moments- Thaco hugging his distraught son, Thaco holding Big Ears back from going after Minmax for apparently upsetting Fumbles, Minmax fixing Fumbles' mustache, causing Fumbles to speak, thanking him- and to cap it off, the sharp-eyed might notice that Fumbles starts mimicking Minmax's posture after the fix.
  • What's even more heartwarming about that scene is that this is the second time Minmax has bonded with one of Delyn Goblinslayer's victims. If Minmax is out to destroy Delyn's "legacy," he's off to a good start.
• Minmax and Fumbles' bonding after Forgath's Heroic Sacrifice lands squarely in here.
  • Minmax helping to fix Fumbles' mustache leads to Fumbles speaking for the first time since his Cold-Blooded Torture.
  • This is soon followed by Minmax reflexively leaping to Fumbles' rescue when he triggers a trap they'd just escaped.
    • And Fumbles repays the favor shortly after.
      Minmax: It's just... this is usually where someone would tackle me and stop me from getting myself killed.
      Thaco: We don't care.
      Complains: Yeah, go get yourself killed.
      (Beat as Minmax looks depressed)
      Fumbles: I'll tackle ya! Senor Vorpaaaal... (*CLONK*)
      Minmax: You okay down there?
      Fumbles: I tackled you. Don't get yourself killed. You dummy.
• In the dungeon, the party find a bizarre pillar that displays an image of the loved one of whoever looks at it- first it displays Complains' late mother (Protects Books) when Thaco looks at it, then when Minmax comes over to see, it changes to display Kin. While we all knew Minmax was in love with Kin, Thaco's reaction to the image of his late wife is unexpectedly heartwarming, especially when he confirms to Complains that he loved her, something that (judging from Complains' surprise) isn't something that should necessarily be taken for granted among goblins.
• Fumbles and Minmax playing with "action figures". It is every bit as hilarious and heartwarming as it looks.
• Minmax is not thrilled with being in the goblin adventuring party. With an exception.
  Minmax: You suck! Taco, you suck! Big Yellow, you suck! Kickaxo... (reluctantly) Yeah, you're OK.
• As the above entries make clear, Minmax and Fumbles become pretty much best buds as they move deeper into the dungeon. This comes to a climax after they fall afoul of a deadly booby trap: upon learning that the ceremony to make Fumbles into a Teller, giving him the clerical spells needed to heal the others, has a risk of killing him, Minmax is horrified and tries to stop him from undergoing it.
  • And when the ceremony goes wrong, Minmax is told that any goblin that tries to interfere would be killed.
    Minmax: Well I'm not a goblin. I'm an idiot!
• When Ears is in a dilemma over whether to Mercy Kill Plush at his request, Fumbles/Vorpal sits down with him, helps him through it, and leans his head on his shoulder in support.
• "BROTHER! YOU'RE ALIVE! WE'RE BACK TOGETHER!"

Kin & Minmax:

• So... Um... Happy Birthday.
  • I... I think it's okay to like Minmax now...
    • Yes. Yes it is.
• Minmax started to walk on the path to redemption when he decided he had standards.
• It's the thought that counts...
  • As part of the whole scene, his explanation of the meaning of a birthday present.
    Minmax: It's just...I guess...it's just a way for people to say "I'm glad you were born." So here. I'm glad you were born.
• Really, we can probably just say every interaction between Kin and Minmax after it became clear he had no intention of killing her.
• Minmax's entire concept is based around proving how awesome he is through combat. He has turned himself essentially into a social cripple because he sacrificed so much to make himself a combat monster. He enjoys fighting, he enjoys getting XP and he enjoys killing monsters. Kin is, from a player character perspective, a monster, so it makes sense not only that he would kill her, but that he'd look forward to killing her. Instead, he spends what had to be hours using skills that he admits he sucks at using, doing everything he can to give her something he considers normal so that he could think of her as something other than untapped XP. Minmax, of all people, essentially spent hours of hard work so that he couldn't justify killing her. He went against his very character concept because he doesn't want her to die. It's possible we might get thrown a swerve at some point, but that's an amazing display of character growth over a relatively short period of time.
  • Ironically, the above means that (if Herbert is at all a competent GM) Minmax should be getting FAR more experience points for this sort of thing than he should for combat—he's actually challenging himself and showing personal growth.
    • It was established early on that God DOES give xp for role-playing.
• Forgath isn't in love with Kin like Minmax is, but look carefully at his demeanor and actions here. He, after agonizing over the decision, very deliberately and determinedly put on his helmet and retrieved his weapon - he was ready to fight Minmax, his traveling companion and brother in arms, to stop him from killing Kin, who they just met. You're a good man, Forgath. A good dwarf, rather.
• And now, Kin seems to have gotten over her dislike of physical contact.
  • Points for Minmax as well. Trapped in a room behind a door opened by confusion and closed by understanding, about to die from the deathtrap therein, what confuses him enough to fully open the way in one swoop? Kin choosing to spend her last moments holding him for comfort. It's sweet, in his dumb as rocks kind of way.
    • There's also the alternate interpretation that she's not over it at all and forced herself to do it just because she knew it would confuse him.
  • And equally heartwarming is the idea that Minmax isn't confused by Kin's actions - he is awesome, after all - but rather the fact that he feels protective of her.
• Kin and Minmax sharing a laugh and joking around with each other. Kin just sound so carefree. The fact that their relationship has progressed to the point where they can act like close friends and share a common sense of humor shows how close they are.
• Minmax is getting a lot of these lately. In this strip, Kin is being crushed by these magically growing trees, and their presence is so traumatic that her mind is superimposing Dellyn over the trees, making it as if he was crushing her. She's crying tears, desperate to get away, and right when it looks like that might be it for her, Minmax just TACKLES Dellyn's distorted face right out of existence, takes her in his arms, and just about challenges anything else to try and hurt her.
  • And conversely, Kin didn't even need prompting from Forgath to go help Minmax against the Demon he was fighting - she was already en route by the time he suggested it.
• I'm sorry...I broke the no-touching rule... Cue Big Damn Hug by Kin to Minmax.
  • . . . darnit Minmax. Now I've got something in my eyes. To clarify, it isn't that the scene is sad, but the fact that the first thing Minmax does after saving Kin's life is to apologize for touching her, because he knows how much it freaks her out. That sentiment and Kin's reaction to it is just touching in all the right ways, and is too tender for Manly Tears. So . . . yeah . . . *sniff*
• Consider also the next strip. As was predicted by the forums, Minmax took a level in barbarian to extract Kin from the trees. But think about that for a minute - Minmax just screwed up his carefully planned-out build optimization, by taking a level and a feat that he never previously intended to take. His name is MinMax and he derailed his minmaxed character path without hesitation - a permanent, irrevocable decision - to save Kin. Now that's love.
• Minmax helping Kin escape the zombies whilst promising her he'll never forget her.
• "I don't want this moment taken away."
• Kin's life being saved by alternates Kins who, mere moments ago, were out for her blood. Also, when our Kin tells them what Psion Minmax did to her, the leader of the alt Kins has this to say.
  ...Let's go liquefy something of his then.
• After Minmax defeats Psion Minmax, he's reunited with the party and the alternate Kin party. He sees Kin's stump of a tail, and is brought to angry tears when he realizes that Psi-Minmax did it. Kin comforts him, rubs his cheek and the two hug.
• Kin's just had her tail restored. The first thing she does is leap into Minmax's arms and they hug. They even have an Almost Kiss before Kin #80 interrupts.
• And while mention of it appears in one of the most depressing strips to date, the revelation that Minmax "Sees" Kin is completely truthful.
• While simultaneously depressing in-context, Minmax, king of the munchkins, is completely willing to give up adventuring if Kin asks him to.
• And finally, years later, The Bus Came Back, as Kin teleported to the GAP in order to find Minmax, except she Missed Him by That Much.
• Even more heartwarming is Kin #80's Retcon never completely took, as the Medallion Minmax made her is permanently part of her I.M.E.!.
• After Kin proves herself to be a Guile Hero, using her now-invulnerable tail to distract and disarm Kore, she delivers this Pre-Mortem One-Liner before toppling him into a Bottomless Pit.
  Kin: You're wrong about Minmax. There are some who would protect him.
• After reuniting with each other, Minmax asks Kin why she came back. And Kin tells him: because he left when she told him to.
  Kin: I miss you, Minmax.
  • And then, finally, they just embrace tightly.

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