The Adventures of Dr. McNinja

Probably should have phrased that differently. Old's not "degenerate", he's crazy, perhaps since always. He's somehow a flawed clone but not one that's self-destructing or Made of Plasticine.

edited 21st Jul '16 10:50:04 AM by Rotpar

I don't think he's crazy. He's just desperate. Desperation drives people to do crazy things, especially when they have an easy, reliable scapegoat that they can blame for their choices.

Since the day he was kidnapped by pirates mistaking him for Doc, his life has been insanely stressful and shit has been falling down around him left and right. He's unstable because his life lacks any semblance of stability right now, and he's embraced the instability because he's been told it's not his fault, it's the degeneration making him choose those choices.

Honestly, it's not far from something similar that happened to a character in The Order Of The Stick. Remove a person's personal sense of responsibility for their actions and things can get real bad, real fast.

EDIT: In essence, the issue isn't that he's an imperfect clone, but that he's a clone of an imperfect being.

edited 21st Jul '16 11:07:17 AM by TobiasDrake

Still, Patrick McNinja is a man who sleep-fought assassins, so why was the lab disaster so terrifying that Old abandoned his family and girlfriend forever? No investigation? No revenge for his mentor if not himself?

EDIT:

Actually, I want to see Dan chew out Old for that now. "Dammit, boy! If somebody kills a McNinja you splatter their blood across heaven and hell! Do you know how many people I'd kill just for the chance to avenge myself?!"

edited 21st Jul '16 11:12:38 AM by Rotpar

Because he's a good ninja. He assumed assassins were after him, so he disappeared. He'd already spent eight years ninja-ing an education with zero social contact, just like the other clones. He just went back to that, using the education he'd gained to build a secret life for himself.

Doc, by contrast, spent those years being a rambunctious college student and not caring overmuch about his actual education, which is why they were already different people by the time Old was supposed to come rejoin Doc. To quote Dan, "I don't know how I'd feel about you if you were a GOOD ninja for most of your adult life."

Not everyone cares about revenge.

edited 21st Jul '16 11:19:00 AM by TobiasDrake

Yeah, let's not forget that Patrick is hardly a model of perfect sanity himself.

Yeah, that. Exactly.

edited 21st Jul '16 3:23:43 PM by TobiasDrake

Hug your clone today. They're right behind you... AAAH!

Sooo... who's betting that Old's going to still end up dead regardless of this?

Yeah. I wouldn't place good odds on his survival. It would be cool if he did though.

At the same time though, both of them are ninjas...and ninjas are tricksy and backstabby.

edited 22nd Jul '16 11:58:47 AM by Rotpar

Are you thinking simultaneous backstab?

I dunno. They're both supposed to be kinda good guys.

Well, I suppose that Old might consider it a valid move in an attempt to steal Patrick's life (literally and figuratively) considering his slightly compromised mental state, but I don't feel like that's what they're going for here. Or at least, I would be rather disappointed.

Put me up with Kayeka.

Arbitrary question apropos of nothing:

Was Shaun born yet when Doc was in college?

I think it's time we admit who the real villain has been all this time.

Doors.

Does Dan know something we don't? Oh, right, he's been the other way and we haven't seen what he ran into yet.

I'm debating whether that's the real Dan, or if the route he & Mitzi took circled all the way to where Patrick & Old are (seems fitting for this place to be a maze).

Yeah, I'm not sure if that's Dan either. Trying to remember if there's anything in Doc's rogues gallery that could reasonably pretend to be Dan.

Ghost Wizard?

edited 25th Jul '16 3:18:08 PM by TobiasDrake

WRONG THREAD

edited 25th Jul '16 6:56:58 PM by Eagal

Well, glad to see that Old listened to reason. I was also wondering if Radical was expecting that and would kill Old to spite Doc, like the lumberjack kid.

I would really like for the whole family to go home after this and have it end on The Adventure Continues.

edited 25th Jul '16 8:40:46 PM by Rotpar

This is true. Especially unlocked doors. Locked doors are locked for a reason.

It's the unlocked bastards you can't trust.

My dad always told me, "Locks exist to keep honest people out."

I realize now it's a one-two punch. The honest people are forced to go to unlocked doors, and that's how they get you. It's a trap.

The version I've heard is: "Locks are not there to keep dishonest people out, they are there to keep honest people honest."

Me too.

What bugs me about Rad is that he's savvy enough to prepare this kind of sadistic game for Doc, but not savvy enough to realize that it never works.

This is the same guy who was tricked into thinking that he was going to win by time travel shenanigans. I don't think "You can't" is something he would understand.