Oh fine, a little death and suddenly Frigg is all cautious connie about hanging with a potential axe maniac. She’ll be right as rain after a little Soma vacation.
Being antagonistic does not directly equate to being stupid. Admittedly most people seem to be both in abundance, but the two are mostly unrelated matters.
So…bets on how long until someone says, “WTF just happened, and where the hell are we? And why is Rob Halford here?”
Oh, Frigg, you sore loser. You were quite happy to hang out with a Berserker and relish the idea of a fight until you got hit with reality…literally. I still love you though.
To be fair, it seems she really didn’t grasp what berserking meant here. It’s all fine and dandy when you think you can just “Unleash the beast” on the enemies. When you realize the beast doesn’t take well to a leash, then it’s time to reassess the situation.
Less a matter of being a sore loser and more a matter of adjusting attitudes to match new information.
Exactly. She has probably encountered Berserker posers, who just go around wearing bearskins and chewing on shields before wading into a fight to let off some excess testosterone.
But those Iron John wannabes are NOTHING compared to the DARK SIDE OF THE BEAST! JOIN ME, AND WE SHALL RULE ARKERRA AS FATHER AND SON!
Erm. Minister… You can’t both think that someone is unleashing the beast while also thinking they’re keeping the beast on a leash, they’re opposing metaphors you see and…
The current info we have suggests it is a simulation. I understand it may, in fact, be any of the things Wandering Mage suggests below. But for now, it sure looks like a simulation.
In any case, the reality is this other world where Dedalus lives has pulled me out of the narrative immediacy of these other characters the authors spent over a year getting me invested. It may come as a surprise, but sometimes a straightforward tale, told well, is better than some Dune-esque “plots within plots,” overly complicated story..
It isn’t that I no longer want to read the comic, or that I think it sucks now, it’s simply that at this time it seems these characters I cared about and enjoyed are not “real” within their own story anymore. I have enough faith in the first eight chapters’ coolness to still believe the story will turn out well – I wouldn’t still be reading otherwise – but *at this juncture* I am slightly underwhelmed by the unfolding events.
One of the things that’s been clearly established about the relationship between the five people in the tanks in Sepia World, and the five adventurers in Arkerra, is that they seem to have the same fundamental personalities — they are the same characters, particularly in the sense of “test of character.”
What we’ve seen most is interactions between these five people. The story is about these people, these characters. There’s no need to forfeit your investment in them, just because they exist in more than one reality.
I’m holding back the whole “simulation” assessment until its revealed exactly what “Arkerra” is. As it stands it could be a number of things such as:
1. a computer simulation.
2. a computer simulation that has more or less become “real” in its world and AI through intervention of magic. Think Star Ocean here.
3. A separate reality accessed by a combination of computers and magic.
4. A separate reality created by a combination of computers and magic.
3 and 4 change nothing on my feelings of the comic, 2 does somewhat, but that’s acceptable. 1 would make me very disappointed. Something completely different may be cool. Personally, I think they’ve gone with number 4 here, but there’s not enough information to say for certain.
5. It was all just a dream.
6. It was all just a crack-induced hallucination.
7. Sepiaworld is a fake reality created by magic
8. Sepiaworld is actually a high-magic interface for scrying.
9. The moon landings were faked.
10. Bob was there too.
I think the story’s been compartmentalized pretty well. You can throw Chapter 8 in the garbage, and miss very little of worth. With a little Phantom re-editing (bringing the Best/sharkman adventure into chapter 9) you could ignore Chapter 8 entirely.
It isn’t a computer simulation. It is a webcomic about a computer simulation of a fantasy universe in which most of the plot takes place.
At what level does the fictionality of what you’re perceiving become acceptable? Would the computer simulation be better if you were playing it directly rather than reading a webcomic about it? Would it become less acceptable if you learnt that this webcomic was actually a fiction itself within a higher-level narrative that you were regarding from without?
I concour, his origins sory kinda pointed that out, as did one little suggestion from a demon summoning cut (which he seems to have some bad history with…) almost made his go psycho
and no matter who you are, psychoing out with a spear through your back and frothing is not a psychological problem
Well, sedatives or similar reliable restraining methods are how D&D parties traditionally deal with Frenzied Berzerker party members once the fighting is over. That or swarms of tamed bees.
Did anyone else read the words “twoo wuv” and immediately hear them in the pastor’s voice from Princess Bride? (Then to be followed by his whole speech…)
I’ve heard that cherubim will brush their arrows with this poison when they go hunting. Though they prefer a deimagic-enrichment process to refinement and go for a different part of the Twoo plant.
Frigg has learned that it’s all fun and games until someone loses an arm.
Anyway. This is my first time noticing it, but Syr’nj is wearing a chain shirt under her… I guess it’s a jerkin. Guess that makes Gravedust the only living member of the party not to wear armor.
I’m just saying this, but maybe, just maybe that Glasses man is Bandit. Just putting it out there. Has anyone else said this yet? If so sorry for being lazy in not finding it.
Syr’nj is a magician… hiding that needle in her gloves like that. Whev aw the bunnies? I wanna bunnies! And a magician’s hat too!
Also: “Frigg, you are a loose cannon.”
Okay, seriously? Has no one realized that Syr’nj’s player is really just female DEXTER? I read through the whole set of comments to hope that one person, just one, would notice that she uses the same style as Dexter.
I never thought of that, but it does seem to fit. The only part that doesn’t seem to quite fit that is the whole peace-loving bit. In any case….FOR SCIENCE!
Oh fine, a little death and suddenly Frigg is all cautious connie about hanging with a potential axe maniac. She’ll be right as rain after a little Soma vacation.
> She’ll be right as rain after a little Soma vacation.
A gram is better than a damn!
Was and will make me ill, I take a gram and only am.
Frigg was being a bit of a prick; maybe now she’ll get the point.
Oh, stop needling her.
Personally, I’m just happy to see that coming back from the dead hasn’t hurt Syr’Nj’s mental abilities: she’s as sharp as ever.
I think after this Frigg will be inoculated to the idea of burying the hatchet with Byron. Which is nothing to sneeze at.
Well, she gave it her best shot.
Frigg needs to be a little more sedate about things.
Ok, we’ve had our fun, lets not shoot a dead horse
I think we hit a nerve.
Now it’s Syr’nj’s turn to be a pain in the neck.
Syr’nj had a gut feeling Frigg would act out.
Vaccene what you did there.
Frigg’s words always carry a solid punch, but you can always count on Syr’j to inject a little sense into the situation.
There’s something to be said for Frigg’s blunt approach, but at least Syr’nj gets to the point without low blows.
didn’t take long for you guys to inject a little levity into the situation.
That’s because they refuse to get inoculated against poking fun at others.
I’ve got a tip for you; get the point?
Ah, dear lord I missed these puns!
After all, they are the point of this comic.
The humor here is getting rather pointed.
Maybe we needle little break?
Stabby stabby!
Was I the only one expecting Frigg and Syr’nj to make out after she mentioned “twoo wuv?” Anybody? No? Just me?
I must admit I sighed a bit.
I was expecting a little story about “mawwiage”.
Serves you right, you ill-tempered, near-empty-headed reddie. ^^
Man, what?
Yeah! What Phil said.
@ Unkown French able-seaman :
Well, that was kinda dumb.
Kinda? You are being generous!
Yeah. Probably.
I think he got it, now.
Being antagonistic does not directly equate to being stupid. Admittedly most people seem to be both in abundance, but the two are mostly unrelated matters.
Twu fwuendsheep~
Two fwuendsheep is pwutting dwoun dwe fwuend dat wuuld pwut duown dwe owver.
So…bets on how long until someone says, “WTF just happened, and where the hell are we? And why is Rob Halford here?”
Oh, Frigg, you sore loser. You were quite happy to hang out with a Berserker and relish the idea of a fight until you got hit with reality…literally. I still love you though.
To be fair, it seems she really didn’t grasp what berserking meant here. It’s all fine and dandy when you think you can just “Unleash the beast” on the enemies. When you realize the beast doesn’t take well to a leash, then it’s time to reassess the situation.
Less a matter of being a sore loser and more a matter of adjusting attitudes to match new information.
Exactly. She has probably encountered Berserker posers, who just go around wearing bearskins and chewing on shields before wading into a fight to let off some excess testosterone.
But those Iron John wannabes are NOTHING compared to the DARK SIDE OF THE BEAST! JOIN ME, AND WE SHALL RULE ARKERRA AS FATHER AND SON!
Erm. Minister… You can’t both think that someone is unleashing the beast while also thinking they’re keeping the beast on a leash, they’re opposing metaphors you see and…
Quiet Bernard.
Well evidently that’s what Frigg just learned ;)
Frigg hates chop-logic.
Syrnj is just so awesome.
You know, I have to admit that the comic just isn’t the same now that we know it’s all a computer simulation. WHYYYYYYYYY???????
But it’s still great. BISSHHhhhh….
That’s some truth there. The comic’s still good, but for me at least it’s been downgraded from great because of the “It’s a simulation” metaplot.
Actually we don’t know that it’s a simulation but w/e.
Shut up, Jean-Luc. We’re making assumptions, over here. You leave your high-fallutin’ brainin’ to Data.
Actually, Sir, we do not know that it is a simulation, but courtesy dictates that I leave you to your assumption.
*Thumbs Up*
Awesome.
*upvote*
Gold Star.
Data, are you still ‘fully functional’? ;)
(takei)Oh my.(/takei)
Naw. I broke him.
*evil cackles of laughter*
You can’t break him, he’s just a simulation anyway!
+1 Internets
win. total win.
The current info we have suggests it is a simulation. I understand it may, in fact, be any of the things Wandering Mage suggests below. But for now, it sure looks like a simulation.
In any case, the reality is this other world where Dedalus lives has pulled me out of the narrative immediacy of these other characters the authors spent over a year getting me invested. It may come as a surprise, but sometimes a straightforward tale, told well, is better than some Dune-esque “plots within plots,” overly complicated story..
It isn’t that I no longer want to read the comic, or that I think it sucks now, it’s simply that at this time it seems these characters I cared about and enjoyed are not “real” within their own story anymore. I have enough faith in the first eight chapters’ coolness to still believe the story will turn out well – I wouldn’t still be reading otherwise – but *at this juncture* I am slightly underwhelmed by the unfolding events.
One of the things that’s been clearly established about the relationship between the five people in the tanks in Sepia World, and the five adventurers in Arkerra, is that they seem to have the same fundamental personalities — they are the same characters, particularly in the sense of “test of character.”
What we’ve seen most is interactions between these five people. The story is about these people, these characters. There’s no need to forfeit your investment in them, just because they exist in more than one reality.
I’m holding back the whole “simulation” assessment until its revealed exactly what “Arkerra” is. As it stands it could be a number of things such as:
1. a computer simulation.
2. a computer simulation that has more or less become “real” in its world and AI through intervention of magic. Think Star Ocean here.
3. A separate reality accessed by a combination of computers and magic.
4. A separate reality created by a combination of computers and magic.
3 and 4 change nothing on my feelings of the comic, 2 does somewhat, but that’s acceptable. 1 would make me very disappointed. Something completely different may be cool. Personally, I think they’ve gone with number 4 here, but there’s not enough information to say for certain.
5. It was all just a dream.
6. It was all just a crack-induced hallucination.
7. Sepiaworld is a fake reality created by magic
8. Sepiaworld is actually a high-magic interface for scrying.
9. The moon landings were faked.
10. Bob was there too.
11. Light from Venus reflected off a weather balloon into some swamp gas.
11. The hole thing is the Dream of an Autistic Child
shit, 12. I mean
Three sir!
13. It’s all in the mind of Dr. Walter Bishop after some experimental “super-acid”.
That was originally my LOST ending theory, but I’m putting it here because it needs to happen SOMEWHERE.
14. Sepia world isn’t actually real, and the dead characters were just dreaming a bizarre dream about a different world
I think the story’s been compartmentalized pretty well. You can throw Chapter 8 in the garbage, and miss very little of worth. With a little Phantom re-editing (bringing the Best/sharkman adventure into chapter 9) you could ignore Chapter 8 entirely.
Which is pretty much what I plan to do.
Except that none of this explains Bandit.
And that’s the REAL question in my mind.
It isn’t a computer simulation. It is a webcomic about a computer simulation of a fantasy universe in which most of the plot takes place.
At what level does the fictionality of what you’re perceiving become acceptable? Would the computer simulation be better if you were playing it directly rather than reading a webcomic about it? Would it become less acceptable if you learnt that this webcomic was actually a fiction itself within a higher-level narrative that you were regarding from without?
Syr’nj is tired of being the butt of your jokes Frigg.
Did she really hafta go there?
I see these jokes and I really shafta make them.
Are Syr’nj and Byron going to have to have a talk about “hey, why didn’t twoo wuv work? Why did I have to use Science?”
Glad you didn’t zoom out to Dedalus today; Nobody would have believed it.
I’m here to ask the obligatory “Where the fuck is Bandit???”
Alice? Who the hell is Alice?
Heh. Good night, Frigg.
“You cheating bisssshhh—“? Bishop? Bishoujo? Bishamon?
It’s obviously bishoujo, anata wa baka. Because Syr’nj is kawaii desu ne.
Now excuse me while I go hang myself for typing that.
(Cringe) I’ll buy you the rope.
I’ll purchase the stool.
Ooh, can I be the one to kick the stool away?
Lets just get a bolter and be done with it. Faster, and so much more satisfying
Frigg has a point.
Also, this comic made me feel better.
Yo Murdock! Frygg is not getting in no freaking plane!
…Im old and this reminded of the recurrent A-Team sketch…
Wait, but I immediately recognized what you were referencing. Does that make me old too?
Well, it’d be hard not to recognise it given that it is explicitly stated IN the comment… but I got it by the second word too… so…. yeah.
As to the above questions on whether the world is real or a simulation or whatnot, I pose the following question.
Anybody other than me reminded slightly of .Hack?
Nope! Absolutely nobody has said it’s remotely like .hack :)
I’ve considered it, too.
I love Syr’nj’s expression in the last panel. “Yep. Science.”
Science: It works Bisssshhhhhhhhh.
I think of it more as her, “How do like them apples, you sucker-punching bisssssh?” face.
“Eventually he’s gonna go batshit again, so kill him now!”
Er…counseling, therapy, or simple separation aren’t options to Frigg, are they? It’s blood or nothing. Well, blood or someone else’s blood, anyway.
I think the point is that the bezerking is in his blood rather than in his mind… it might not be possible to tame the beast.
Still, lots of sedative seems like a decent enough plan.
I concour, his origins sory kinda pointed that out, as did one little suggestion from a demon summoning cut (which he seems to have some bad history with…) almost made his go psycho
and no matter who you are, psychoing out with a spear through your back and frothing is not a psychological problem
also, good to have the real cast back :D
Well, sedatives or similar reliable restraining methods are how D&D parties traditionally deal with Frenzied Berzerker party members once the fighting is over. That or swarms of tamed bees.
Did anyone else read the words “twoo wuv” and immediately hear them in the pastor’s voice from Princess Bride? (Then to be followed by his whole speech…)
Yes! I’m so glad I’m not the only one.
How could you NOT hear the speech?
I actually assumed it was a direct reference.
yeah, I assumed that too
Y’know, I can kinda see it from her point of view, seeing as how he turned into an engine of destruction and doom…
…that she’d been wanting to see for ages.
Frig, you hypocrit!
teehee :D
perhaps even a… hypodermicrite?
But it was Twoo Wuv… extracted, refined, dehydrated, reconstituted and deployed via needle vector.
I’ve heard that cherubim will brush their arrows with this poison when they go hunting. Though they prefer a deimagic-enrichment process to refinement and go for a different part of the Twoo plant.
Man, that Syr’nj is a real knockout, no wonder everybody’s falling for her.
Hey kids! It’s FREE MORPHINE DAY!
Why do we not celebrate this?
cause no one can remember it.
Leave it to Frigg to quantify death.
Also, “AUGGHHH BANDIT etc”.
Also: Is Frigg accusing Syrnj of cheating in her fight with Byron when he was kirking out earlier or the fight the two of them are having this second?
Yes.
That is an amazing sleight of hand there. And yay for the returning cast! I can twooly wuv again. Even with Payet in the mix.
Frigg: I wanna see BERZERKER!
Byron: BERZERKER!
Frigg: Man, this kinda blows.
Frigg has learned that it’s all fun and games until someone loses an arm.
Anyway. This is my first time noticing it, but Syr’nj is wearing a chain shirt under her… I guess it’s a jerkin. Guess that makes Gravedust the only living member of the party not to wear armor.
He’s a dwarf – They all wear armour. It’s just his robes cover it.
I’m just saying this, but maybe, just maybe that Glasses man is Bandit. Just putting it out there. Has anyone else said this yet? If so sorry for being lazy in not finding it.
Only about 137.
Syr’nj is a magician… hiding that needle in her gloves like that. Whev aw the bunnies? I wanna bunnies! And a magician’s hat too!
Also: “Frigg, you are a loose cannon.”
“Be more like Byron! He’s totally restrained and- OH GOD HE’S FOAMING AT THE MOUTH ARRRRGH MY ARM…”
Frigg should know: You don’t fuck with the elf.
It doesn’t count if it’s with an elf.
You barely feel it if it’s an elf.
Good old Syr. She’s always ready with a pointed rebuttal.
She can also take a sharp jab, and give one in reply.
Aesop of the day: Roofies >> twoo wuv.
This is totally right and not wrong at all.
Son of a bish, I forgot to make obvious jokes/comments!
Wow, nobody commented on the alt-text yet? I thought it was pretty funny. And totally believable as Dusty’s reaction to this.
Syr’Nj is special forces trained… if you’re not cheating, you’re not doing it right!
Okay, Srn’Nj is totally my favorite character now XD
The power of true drugs, even greater then true love!
Okay, seriously? Has no one realized that Syr’nj’s player is really just female DEXTER? I read through the whole set of comments to hope that one person, just one, would notice that she uses the same style as Dexter.
I never thought of that, but it does seem to fit. The only part that doesn’t seem to quite fit that is the whole peace-loving bit. In any case….FOR SCIENCE!
i love how a fantasy comic is more rational then most of the so called “realistic” movies
also my avatar, i dont know if its temporary or not but i love it, beautifull plot, art, and comedy, 10/10
I love Syr’nj SO much, hehe.