El Goonish Shive

Per this part of Magus's several-page exposition dump, that does seem to be the case.

"...Ellen had the ability to shoot a proper spell version of the TF Gun that I could use a conduit."

So, from the way he makes it sound, he needed Elliot to be hit with the TF Gun's effect, but it needed to be a spell and not whatever the gun is. That way, he could ride the spell and possess Elliot's body as his own, since it sort of is?

The Dewitchery Diamond shenanigans were a roundabout way of creating a spell version of it.

And I guess it needed to be a male-to-female transformation beam because that's essentially the reverse of a spell currently affecting Magus and that makes a sort of... dipole attraction that makes the whole thing work?

Or maybe any spell would work but it would normally affect Elliot's body as well as transferring Magus, but the man-body spell on magus cancels out the girl-body spell leaving him with an unmodified body.

edited 21st Jun '18 2:35:41 AM by Elfive

Technically Magus doesn't have a spell on him; he was permanently transformed. Just like how someone who is burned by a fireball isn't under some magical fire effect, they're just burned.

In fairness, we have no clue if there might have been other means of hijacking Elliot - Pandora might have just decided to inform him of the one with the most potential to have Hijinks Ensue.

edited 21st Jun '18 8:35:23 AM by ironballs16

Yeah, Fridge Logic does suggest that, if Magus' goal was to ride a spell into Elliot (Sure, Let's Go with That), he realistically could have ridden any spell into Elliot. That Pandora would have lied to Magus and say that only Ellen's beam would have done it is something she totally would have done, though it's a little dumb that Magus didn't even attempt to try anything along those lines via a different spell.

Though I suppose that there is one logical point about all that - so far as I remember, only one spell has ever been cast right onto Elliot prior to this story - and it was a super-close range one from Edward Verres. Of course, that then brings up that maybe Magus could have helped inspire someone to come up with a buff spell, and then stood in the way of that, which also would have effectively kept his cover (because then all he'd have to do is handle whatever required a buff, acting all heroic, and then jetting off in privacy to the Dewitchery Diamond). But anyhow, this is all relatively moot because Magus was the right mix of "gullible" and "desperate" such that he really thought that trusting Pandora was 100% the right call. Given that the comic established both the gullible and the desperate multiple times, I'm fine with all that in a storytelling sense.

Y'know, a thought occurs to me because of that linked page. Edward has a spell to not only determine someone's identity but to also analyze any spell effects they happen to be under.

Tedd has a special ability to analyze any spell effect he witnesses.

That's interesting.

edited 21st Jun '18 10:11:26 AM by TobiasDrake

Maybe immortals on Magus's home 'verse have that "No Lying" rule Voltaire is salty about.

Possibly, but I think Magus has hung around long enough to have seen that immortals in EGS prime Earth do not have that restriction. That said, it was established just how seriously desperate Magus was - even though Magus' confidence in being able to handle Sirleck was well-founded in the end, the fact that Magus would even consider it was an act of ultimate desperation... and it's strongly suggested (if not said outright) that Magus knew it. And someone that desperate would totally go all-in on anything that would get them what they wanted, even knowing that the one promising it might be lying through their teeth. Magus' worst-case scenario then would be that Pandora was lying... and his situation would be no worse than before. So it's also moot as to whether or not Magus thought Pandora could lie... he was probably going to trust her regardless.

Another possible dangling plot thread involving Magus: "Pandora... I will end you."

Yes, the Pandora who jerked him around, and beat the crap out of him when he wouldn't kill for her, is gone. But if Magus remains stuck in the main EGS universe long enough to learn of Pandora's next iteration, I could see him taking advantage of the limited power she'll initially have, to act on his vow.

edited 21st Jun '18 12:02:13 PM by AliceMacher

Maybe, maybe not, as Pandora is a near-literal case of That Man Is Dead at this point, retained memories notwithstanding.

He already kinda did. It was his plan with Sirleck that led to Pandora nuking herself.

He hadn't exactly intended for that to happen and didn't even know how many vampires Sirleck was sending, but it's still a neat bonus. That's a blood vendetta that I think can be safely considered fulfilled.

edited 21st Jun '18 8:01:43 PM by TobiasDrake

Comic Sister3-296

Should have thought of that.

Man it's painfully obvious that Dan is only going to be referencing the first generation of pokemon.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Technically he's already referenced a later generation.

No girl PCs in gen 1.

edited 22nd Jun '18 4:23:45 AM by Elfive

Had to chuckle at Ellen's Tarzan-speak in the second panel. It's as if she were telling not only Elliot but her cartoonist to stop flogging a dead horse already.

It'll be interesting to see why her spellbook's thinner now. I very much doubt it's because she's lost a significant number of spells, because that would make pointless the NP arc completely devoted to those.

My guess is that absorbing dragon power has streamlined and possibly combined many of her spells.

My guess would be something to do with the slight adjustment to magic that took place.

Weren't the old spells all long and wordy? Could just be a case of magic getting an editor.

I blame Ted for this change. She's the one who made Magic aware that the spellbooks were difficult to understand.

edited 22nd Jun '18 7:20:03 AM by Nornin

Mhm. Magic probably went 'wait, humans find the spell books confusing? Well, as long as I'm changing the system anyway, might as well try to fix that.'

Spellbooks are now tablets. Also, anyone who ever does a shallow parody of Pokemon only covers the first generation.

I'm gonna laugh if Magic overcorrected.

"Transformation Beam: It makes ladyfolk."

"Guardian Form: Become an angel, bruh!"

Magic books are now written in nothing but emojis.

Were you really expecting a deep look on the Pokémon franchise out of a small parody arc in a comedy webcomic about physical transformations?

Also, Shive just included Silver from Gen II in the comic.

edited 22nd Jun '18 12:58:28 PM by TheLovecraftian

NP Gam-06

Yoink.