El Goonish Shive

I'm betting on new character. Magus, I think, would be a bit more direct in helping these guys find Elliot. He's no mysterious riddler.

Maybe it's got something to do with that demon facehugger thing. What ever happened to him, anyway?

It would be nice to see Magus again, just to know that Shive didn't forget he exists, as he tends to do.

My money's on "New Character" just because I'm pretty sure Magus is having poker nights with Nioi and Lord Tedd in Plot Thread Limbo.

edited 15th May '15 3:29:09 PM by TobiasDrake

Re- NP. I have to say I fully agree with Pandora's orders here. Sarah has probably one of the most unique and potentially creative superpowers in the history of fiction, so if she only uses it to look at shirtless men, or just uses the AI function to roleplay romantic fantasies, I'll be furious.

Mind you, Pandora obviously wants Sarah's powers to impact the way she acts in real life, so that's a bit more tricky. I'd suggest taking advantage of the learning potential- it'd help her school studies immensely, which could drastically change the direction of her future...

I'm betting 75% new character, 24% Magus, 1% someone else.

We don't need new characters. :(

If nothing else, I'd bet against Magus because of the fact that this mysterious bearded guy (MBG until further notice) is depicted in pretty much the complete opposite of Magus.

Just as a refresher: here's Magus, depicted in shadow with white lines to differentiate his features. Here's MBG, depicted as glowing with grey lines to differentiate his features.

Given the very stark visual depictions, though, this does lead me to one hypothesis - this is whoever has it out for Magus. Easy to forget due to how long ago it was (and how it's never been brought back up), but Magus' current state isn't an accident; he was sent here as the result of someone sabotaging his spells and equipment. It's definitely not Terra (the woman he had been dueling with); the body shape (and beard) are all wrong.

It would fit the story, and it would be a new character that was at least hinted to exist previously (sabotage is not an accidental act, after all).

It's also probably not Terra. Although it would make the goatee more impressive if it is.

edited 18th May '15 7:23:32 AM by TobiasDrake

NP!

Sleep is for the non-paranoid.

Elliot's timing is distinctly odd.

Panel 2 is great, because I just enjoy the idea that Elliot is kind of incompetently romantic. At the same time, he does know better than to be one of those guys who Cannot Spit It Out.

The last four panels... well, maybe it's me, but the writing seems a bit stilted there. It's not that they're being dumb or out of character... eh, something just seems off about them.

Finally, related to the author's note - maybe it says something about what I usually do at the mall, but I thought they had tacos.

Okay, this page really made me laugh! XD

I'm very much liking these two more and more. ^_^

That said, I've decided that I don't like Ashley's hair: the ponytail is off-centre, and the... bang-things (in this art-style, at least) leave it looking a little sparse at the front. A full fringe would like better to my eye.

This is probably a cultural difference, but my guess before reading the rant was that they were eating pies.

edited 19th May '15 6:26:22 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

Well, from a design sense, I don't like those little hair hooks she's got going on in the front. It's like there's a tick gnawing on her brain or something.

I can no longer un-see the headcrab.

Luckily, it's not a case of etheric spider possession. Probably.

That's... That's not an image that I had before. I like it! XD

And now I can't unsee it either...

And it even looks like it's releasing her head slightly in panel 2! Quick, Elliot, say you like her again! It's working!

Weds... Thurs... Friday comic posted! Elliot expounds a bit on his transformation abilities since he figures that is his secret to share.

And Wednesday NP comic, which is just a random pop culture reference with no real joke.

One thing I'm curious to see - just how much about his transformation abilities is he going to reveal? There's a reason many supers keep a Secret Identity after all; I could see him glossing over Cheerleadra to keep her safe from some of the more dangerous things... at least until the inevitable moment later in this storyline where she has to cover for him as he changes (it's such an obvious setup at this point).

Meanwhile, Ashley's brain-eating tick shows no sign of letting go.

I've always seen Ashley's hair as more of a spider, really. A spider with a ponytail.

Spiders and ticks are both arachnids. They are extremely similar in terms of body shape. In my experience, though, ticks have shorter legs. That said, we'd have to get a good look at its other physical structures to be sure... and I sure as heck don't want to get near a human head-sized arachnid, regardless of whether it's a tick or a spider.

You're wrong, Elliot. You're betraying Mr. Verres's trust that you'll keep this information Need-to-Know. He already threatened Justin over this once.

He has violated the "Keep the circle at eight" rule without good cause. So have Ellen and Nanase, but that was an emergency crisis; it wasn't their fault.

I'm really curious to see what Mr. Verres's response is going to be when he gets word that Elliot's turned confidential information into a way to impress dates.

edited 22nd May '15 7:18:43 AM by TobiasDrake

That will teach Mr. Verres to not trust teenagers.

Anyway, Elliot already broke that trust by accidentally showing Ashley the transformation and by accidentally letting out he knows more people with weird powers. In that context, I don't think Elliot is making things worse by showing off the abilities Ashley already knows he has anyway.

We could get into hair-splitting over just what information is counted as being part of the "circle of eight" restriction. Arguably, given that Elliot hasn't told Ashley of anything specifically from Edward Verres, he has not betrayed the circle at all. Of course, this is a bit hair-splitting, but pretty important hair-splitting.

Also, given how long ago that was, I have to imagine that the circle is a little wider now. Charlotte and Diane were likely allowed to know some things, given that they weren't given a memory zap of any kind after the Tengu incident (and Verres was there, so it's not like their knowledge of the events is unknown to him). They might not be allowed to know as much as the main cast about things, but I have to imagine things are a bit wider now.

Finally, Elliot wasn't there for the "circle of eight" speech. He might not at all know just what Verres expects him to keep quiet about.

Elliot was there. He was just besides Justin in his mildly mannered girl disguise.