“Boxblocked”? Thank you. I will save that word and use it whenever opportunity presents. And, I guess, especially when opportunity is unpresented.
Also, Byron’s passionate lack of passion is pretty awesome. Though I guess it could also be lingering brain damage. “Air pirates. Crazy fighter wanting to kill me. Purple radishes in chef’s hats. Whatever.”
… Such a perfect term. Shame I can’t think of a single real-life situation in which I would ever need to use the term… as one who is technically a bloke.
One should not lightly tempt the wrath of the mellifluous Frigg. Come to think of it, what if she were to attempt ‘best time’ while still mostly encased in plate? The local musicians guild could interpret the resulting cacophony as brigands molesting a steam calliope. When Frig was done ramming chanters up fundaments, we could be witness to the new musical genesis of the toot toot train!
Sadly, I’m afraid that I really did pull all that out of thin air. I was a physics major who secretly yearned to be a poet.
Looking back on it, if I didn’t know that was me who typed that, I wouldn’t believe it was me either. I sound like a Walt Simonson issue of The Mighty Thor.
The appeal of Byron is that he so far seems like a mostly decent guy who might not actually kill people at the slightest provocation, which is somewhat interesting considering the berserker title. I doubt he’s really anyone’s favorite character, but so far he makes a decent straight man, and usually you need that kind of foil at some point even if it’s a thankless job. Besides, I’m not really sure if it’s really fair to call him out for boxblocking considering the context. That’s kind of a pub, dorm and party thing, not a “We’re in a pirate cave and missing two people,” kinda deal.
He’s the second smartest person in the group, at this point at least. He may not seem like he has lightning wits, but I get the impression he doesn’t stop thinking, so he eventually figures things out. He seems like the kind of fellow who has a very strict internal moral code – which he doesn’t talk about, and mostly doesn’t force anyone else to follow – but which seems to push him toward finding solutions to problems *other* than “bash everything until it stops moving.” I also think his lack-of-passion pose is just that, a pose, to keep others from trying to manipulate him.
It’s rare that a character with relatively high intelligence fills the role of berserker. Most of them try to keep a lid on it, and it looks like Byron does, too. After all, berserking is handy in a large battle, but outside of that it doesn’t usually lead o success.
Byron is also my favorite character, precisely because he’s the straight man. It’s hard to have a good straight man character, since any craziness from the quirky characters can just be explained as, “That’s our (insert quirky character name here)!”
But a straight character, when he does anything that seems out of the ordinary, there needs to be some good depth of backstory behind it, otherwise it’s just bad writing. His displays of intelligence and restraint keep me interested in his character, and how he’ll deal with challenging situations in the future.
Ditto on Byron being my favorite character (though we will have to see once Bandit gets more development). Like others have mentioned or implied, I love how atypical he is in that he’s a very intelligent and mindful person in a role that people usually expect to be the opposite.
Sure he might come off as a stick-in-the-mud to some, but that sort of comes with being the de facto party leader and I can’t hold that against him, especially since he’s shown plenty of times that he has more then enough of a sense of humor. He just hasn’t had much opportunity to show it recently…
That isn’t appeal. The dude seems to be spoilsport personified.
A more appropriate name for him would be “Byron the Whiner”.
And thus far he has demonstrated the least aptitude for much of anything out of the whole group… or perhaps just the least willingness to be able.
I’d say she was totally going to do him next, except I’m thinking she’s actually not the kind of gal who makes the first move. The second, third, fourth and fifth, but not the first.
Well either she wants Byron to do something about her frustrations or…well what else is there? She wouldn’t still be talking to him if she intended to beat him up, would she?
Also, yes, I too am adding “boxblocked” to my vocabulary.
I know what you’re getting at and I certainly won’t say that it is impossible. But this is Frig. Would she really let a li’l thing like her own past behavior keep her from beating someone up?
i guess keeping the context of the “landing” the saying should finish with:
…is potential emotional trauma and loads of gold spent having your memory wiped/reworked by the local enchanter?
while their efficiency in having a rescue without a casualty on their side (either the party or the hostages) is something to be commended, it could hurt future “save the [princess]” scenarios if the potential employer thinks you might use/abuse the [princess] as a stepladder or cover…
the word [princess] can be replaced by a person’s name or general grouping of people, as required to drive home the point.
—-
this is oddly enough kinda reminiscent of how my current game is like. my party is trying to change the current established government in our town and we’ve been going through steps to further our cause: liberating an anti-government official, stealing a printing press to spread anti-government documentation (bonus: it has a legal seal on it… heh), etc…
now yes, we are doing illegal things, but we have yet to actually kill any actual official, my wizard KO’s them through sleep/color spray and we tie them up. those we regrefully have to hurt are KOed using saps and non-lethal force, and those hurt using “real” force have their wounds tended to and bleeding stopped.
after all, would you rather currently serve under a government that is somewhat oppressive or serve in the future under the guys who are more then happy to viciously slaughter the current government?
I prefer to change the established government into fine ash… and the rest of the city along with it.
It is for their own good, so it isn’t evil (they’re being liberated from the pains of the corporeal form).
Because Charisma isn’t for socialising. Charisma is for moar fireballz.
(To date I’ve played 3 Sorcerers and 0 Wizards. I hate Vancian magic. I’m willing to wait a little longer to get my powerful spells if it means I get to cast them at will and more frequently. That said, things I’ve read more recently imply that I really should give Wizards a try sooner or later, and perhaps try something other than just being evocation-artillery. Gnomish Illusionist perhaps…)
Hehe, look at Syr’s and Byron’s faces in the last panel. They just don’t understand the full implications of Boxblocking. Either that or “virgin’s envy”.
Wait…. are you guys implying hat something wasn’t subtle? Did I miss something while reading? Could you spell it out a bit more? I think “Niall” has some descriptive words you can use!
“Boxblocked”? So THATS what girls calls it! :D Hahaha! Now all i need is to figure out what a “kick to the nuts” is called when you do it on a girl and then i may finally understand the strange race known as “women” ;) ^^
Discussion (81) ¬
Friggs alittle peeved she didn’t get her “Best time”
LOL
Jim
My, such colorful dialogue, Frig.
Yes, Frigg definitely pwned subtlety. In the face.
To be fair, subtlety had it coming.
subtlety and frigg have never been on good terms. frigg tends to punch him out whyen he flies right over her head…
The fact that this comic used the term ‘boxblocked’ has made my night. Byron’s lack of reaction in the last four panels, too.
I briefly misread it as “boxlocked” which made me wonder how much firearm technology this setting actually has.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxlock_action
Ahhh, Frigg.
<3
Literally bearing witness to the impossible beats possibly witnessing the boring (metaphorical) of Frigg.
“Boxblocked”? Thank you. I will save that word and use it whenever opportunity presents. And, I guess, especially when opportunity is unpresented.
Also, Byron’s passionate lack of passion is pretty awesome. Though I guess it could also be lingering brain damage. “Air pirates. Crazy fighter wanting to kill me. Purple radishes in chef’s hats. Whatever.”
Yeah, I have added “Boxblocked” to my vocabulary.
Ditto. Thank you Urban Dic.
… Such a perfect term. Shame I can’t think of a single real-life situation in which I would ever need to use the term… as one who is technically a bloke.
One should not lightly tempt the wrath of the mellifluous Frigg. Come to think of it, what if she were to attempt ‘best time’ while still mostly encased in plate? The local musicians guild could interpret the resulting cacophony as brigands molesting a steam calliope. When Frig was done ramming chanters up fundaments, we could be witness to the new musical genesis of the toot toot train!
Where did you get that thesaurus?
… Why would one assume a thesaurus when it takes less effort to assume someone simply has a good vocabulary?
Put down the thesaurus and step away, scumbag!
A steam calliope normally sounds like it’s being molested by brigands…
Sadly, I’m afraid that I really did pull all that out of thin air. I was a physics major who secretly yearned to be a poet.
Looking back on it, if I didn’t know that was me who typed that, I wouldn’t believe it was me either. I sound like a Walt Simonson issue of The Mighty Thor.
My heart goes out to you. Mostly because that’s an unnervingly accurate description of me too . . .
Boxblocked?
Goddamn, I love the Frigg.
I’m still trying to figure out the appeal of Byron, however. he mostly seems to be coming across as a giant wet blanket
The appeal of Byron is that he so far seems like a mostly decent guy who might not actually kill people at the slightest provocation, which is somewhat interesting considering the berserker title. I doubt he’s really anyone’s favorite character, but so far he makes a decent straight man, and usually you need that kind of foil at some point even if it’s a thankless job. Besides, I’m not really sure if it’s really fair to call him out for boxblocking considering the context. That’s kind of a pub, dorm and party thing, not a “We’re in a pirate cave and missing two people,” kinda deal.
I like Byron.
He’s the second smartest person in the group, at this point at least. He may not seem like he has lightning wits, but I get the impression he doesn’t stop thinking, so he eventually figures things out. He seems like the kind of fellow who has a very strict internal moral code – which he doesn’t talk about, and mostly doesn’t force anyone else to follow – but which seems to push him toward finding solutions to problems *other* than “bash everything until it stops moving.” I also think his lack-of-passion pose is just that, a pose, to keep others from trying to manipulate him.
I definitely like Byron.
It’s rare that a character with relatively high intelligence fills the role of berserker. Most of them try to keep a lid on it, and it looks like Byron does, too. After all, berserking is handy in a large battle, but outside of that it doesn’t usually lead o success.
And Byron seems ro be a successful adventurer!
I agree with what you are saying, Carl-E.
However, I must admit your “T” key seems to malfunction at the end of your post.
“Lead T o success”
“Byron seems T o be a successful adventurer”
Just sayin…
I like Byron the best, a thoughtful, contained, berserker…I like it and the whole damn cast.
i seem to waffle between the brute force method and the think before acting method
makes me unpredictable.
Byron *is* my favorite character.
Byron is also my favorite character, precisely because he’s the straight man. It’s hard to have a good straight man character, since any craziness from the quirky characters can just be explained as, “That’s our (insert quirky character name here)!”
But a straight character, when he does anything that seems out of the ordinary, there needs to be some good depth of backstory behind it, otherwise it’s just bad writing. His displays of intelligence and restraint keep me interested in his character, and how he’ll deal with challenging situations in the future.
Agreed. Byron is my favorite character for all of the above reasons. Also, see my link.
Ditto on Byron being my favorite character (though we will have to see once Bandit gets more development). Like others have mentioned or implied, I love how atypical he is in that he’s a very intelligent and mindful person in a role that people usually expect to be the opposite.
Sure he might come off as a stick-in-the-mud to some, but that sort of comes with being the de facto party leader and I can’t hold that against him, especially since he’s shown plenty of times that he has more then enough of a sense of humor. He just hasn’t had much opportunity to show it recently…
That isn’t appeal. The dude seems to be spoilsport personified.
A more appropriate name for him would be “Byron the Whiner”.
And thus far he has demonstrated the least aptitude for much of anything out of the whole group… or perhaps just the least willingness to be able.
That emphazising mini-strip is nice.
I’d say she was totally going to do him next, except I’m thinking she’s actually not the kind of gal who makes the first move. The second, third, fourth and fifth, but not the first.
Pssst. Byron. I think she might mean you.
I’m not sure. I mean, she didn’t say “for realz”.
Well either she wants Byron to do something about her frustrations or…well what else is there? She wouldn’t still be talking to him if she intended to beat him up, would she?
Also, yes, I too am adding “boxblocked” to my vocabulary.
I know what you’re getting at and I certainly won’t say that it is impossible. But this is Frig. Would she really let a li’l thing like her own past behavior keep her from beating someone up?
That last series of panels kinda cemented, at least to me, that Frigg is going to make Byron do something about her recent case of “boxblocked”.
Let’s hope his ‘constrained berserker’ comes in handy for this little misadventure.
Byron is awesome. Alrhough he shouldn’t crush Syr’nj’s enthusiasm.
The strip is hilarious. The alt-text? Even better.
I like how Byron’s expression doesn’t change.
Perhaps he was simply trying to save Frigg from whelping a half-Shit Elven brat? Either way, Byron’s unshakable. Even after serious head trauma.
… brigands molesting a steam calliope. Man, that’s classic. Glad to see a Liberal Arts degree paying off for someone!
“Whelping a half- Shit elven brat” ? Words fail me, so a tip of the hat will have to do.
Also, forgot from before: Boxblocked? **Heart**
Cheers,
Cote
Clusterstrophe, aka:
Massaster
Clumpbacle
Bundleclysm
Bunchap
Grouproblem
Fiascrowd
&
Congregationightmare
He he. This is fun.
…I’m gonna steal massaster and ‘bundleclysm’ now. So you know.
My first reaction was “clusterfuck/catastrophe”, but I like some of these, too.
Massaster and bundleclysm are the ones that roll most easily from the tongue!
Bunchap sounds like a personal problem…
I think it sounds like a Pokemon.
Bunchap used chafe!
It’s not very effective.
Bunchap used box block!
It is super effective.
It evolves into a Doughboy and its signature move is the Cinnamon Swirl.
It’s obviously a cluster of catastrophes.
I had to look up “box blocked.”
I like Byron’s reaction to Frigg’s frustration. His face seems to say “Deal with it, floozy.”
Ah, Frigg. There’s vulgarity and then there’s VULGARITY. I swear she could make the Declaration of Independence sound low-brow.
“When, in the course of fucked-up events, …”
I think everyone here is too amazed by “boxblocked” to notice that absolute awesomeness that is “clustertrophe”.
They rescued all the kids, and none of them are dead. I’m not sure why Byron thinks that went badly. Any landing you walk away from…
i guess keeping the context of the “landing” the saying should finish with:
…is potential emotional trauma and loads of gold spent having your memory wiped/reworked by the local enchanter?
while their efficiency in having a rescue without a casualty on their side (either the party or the hostages) is something to be commended, it could hurt future “save the [princess]” scenarios if the potential employer thinks you might use/abuse the [princess] as a stepladder or cover…
the word [princess] can be replaced by a person’s name or general grouping of people, as required to drive home the point.
—-
this is oddly enough kinda reminiscent of how my current game is like. my party is trying to change the current established government in our town and we’ve been going through steps to further our cause: liberating an anti-government official, stealing a printing press to spread anti-government documentation (bonus: it has a legal seal on it… heh), etc…
now yes, we are doing illegal things, but we have yet to actually kill any actual official, my wizard KO’s them through sleep/color spray and we tie them up. those we regrefully have to hurt are KOed using saps and non-lethal force, and those hurt using “real” force have their wounds tended to and bleeding stopped.
after all, would you rather currently serve under a government that is somewhat oppressive or serve in the future under the guys who are more then happy to viciously slaughter the current government?
Regretfully hurt? If they ain’t for you they’re against you!
Mainly I say that because I like to punch things.
Congratulations, TraderInTown!
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Post the 3,000th comment!
And a personal score of about a third of that?
I prefer to change the established government into fine ash… and the rest of the city along with it.
It is for their own good, so it isn’t evil (they’re being liberated from the pains of the corporeal form).
Because Charisma isn’t for socialising. Charisma is for moar fireballz.
(To date I’ve played 3 Sorcerers and 0 Wizards. I hate Vancian magic. I’m willing to wait a little longer to get my powerful spells if it means I get to cast them at will and more frequently. That said, things I’ve read more recently imply that I really should give Wizards a try sooner or later, and perhaps try something other than just being evocation-artillery. Gnomish Illusionist perhaps…)
I tend to prefer “cervexed”, but that might be a little beyond her normal vocabulary.
Ha I like that.
First Syr’nj, now Frigg. Who can’t you make adorable?
Hehe, look at Syr’s and Byron’s faces in the last panel. They just don’t understand the full implications of Boxblocking. Either that or “virgin’s envy”.
Wait…. are you guys implying hat something wasn’t subtle? Did I miss something while reading? Could you spell it out a bit more? I think “Niall” has some descriptive words you can use!
and Byron’s retort? Thumb over his shoulder, pointing at a door, as he unfolds himself from the chair and says, “In there” (pause) “Now”
She goes in… and he locks the door behind her… and orders the middle earth equivalent of beer and pizza…um… ale and turkey leg? lol
I liked how nonchalant Byron was at the ‘insinuations’ of Frigg.
“I’m waiting for the part where I give a flying kobold’s arse.” Is what I’d have liked him to say… but he can say it in me head I suppose.
Or, perhaps he’d go with that old standby, “You know, when you’re angry, your eyes sparkle?” and watch her get a “Jeenkies, really?” smile.
Or is Frigg with that type of smile just way to disturbing for y’all?
i’m sure she has a nice smile, the problem is what it implies.
my guess? a murderricane came into town and she was standing at the center of it all and loved every second of it.
I love the look on Byron’s face.
Is it just me, or is the art in this comic getting even better with each passing page?
I am SO going to use the word Clusterstrophe(tm) at work…
“Boxblocked”? So THATS what girls calls it! :D Hahaha! Now all i need is to figure out what a “kick to the nuts” is called when you do it on a girl and then i may finally understand the strange race known as “women” ;) ^^
Cunt-Punt.
hey frigg? boxblocking got ya down? well…. im always here…..
Leave it to Frigg to focus on the finer details :-)
she then follows up by informing him he now owes her a fuck, unfortunately for him his expression suggests he has no fucks to give.