HR wants the game to beat the guild so they get kicked back to reality. Adding another highly creative member to the guild is not going to aid that goal.
I think HR is going to ask for help is solving the problem and Ferris is loyal enough not to spread what he now knows.
The moment you’ve been waiting for, the guy in the glasses does something, anything.ANYTHING AT ALL Or no, we’ll switch perspectives again on Friday to draw it out for one more week. But seriously, something will happen with this guy. Really, really soon. Soon.
Remember when we were told to just wait for it when we questioned “why Byron doesn’t do berserker stuff”?
Looks like we’re going to get a look at what a successful Arcanometry spell (Or it was Mathemagics?) looks like. Until now we’ve seen just failures.
Carol panics, leaves the keys in the elevator, Ferris comes in and step on my magic circle, imprisioning him and bringing back my deranged memories. Just as keikaku.
Byron was an interesting character even before he did Berserker stuff. The primary debates about Carol and HR during the first year, year and a half, of their storyline was whether or not they had eyes. They are a weight on the back of the narrative, a plot cul-de-sac the audience returns to again and again, only to exit (again and again) with nothing much having changed.
HR casts a spell. How did it affect the storyline? It didn’t. He stared at the tubes for awhile, broke a monitor. Did it affect the protagonists in any way? No. He rewrites the game to force a confrontation. Does it work? no. Misplaced slapstick comedy cultists reach beyond the veil to commune with him, and we see a screenshot of Battlezone. Does anything happen to affect the protagonists? No.
Every single sepia world scene can be removed from the narrative without affecting the World of Arkerra, or anyone in it. It would create no plot inconsistencies of any kind, because nothing HR or Carol have done have so much as nudged any of the protagonists in the bum. The 50-odd pages of sepia world storyline are a completely seperate, boring storyline that as of yet, has nothing to do with any of the protagonist characters of the primary narrative. Every page we spend in the tube room is a page we could have spent somewhere good.
Maybe this interminable storyline is finally going to bump fenders with the main narrative in a meaningful way. I hope so.
If I got your text right, looks like you just don’t like the Sepia chapters while acknowledging they are sort of separate. One can just ignore Sepia World until HR makes a dent on the fabric of reality.
I kind of like both, but at first I was worried that it would be a “we got tired of fantasy, let’s make some slice of life” moment or, at first “it was just a game”. OK, still just a game. Only of The Matrix variety, and they can’t unplug until some gnome or goblin comes up with Arkerra’s first phone.
Either way, I’m too waiting for HR to do something “more than a footnote” just like Byron at Souf Kourral (“OK, we got enough Berserkin’ now you can stop. Please. STAHP”)
Eh. Each to their own.”Nothing happening” is the primary element of suspense. HR is dreadful–he has been established as a character who evokes dread. This moment wouldn’t have the effect it does if the dread and suspense hadn’t been established.
I justed wanted to mention that the structure of your argument reminds me in a way of some debates in philosophy of mind. Like: How would mental causation be possible? How can a system that is physically closed be influenced in any way? What does consciousness do?
I don’t know whether there is a take away message for the sepia world. Perhaps it would be that things can be interesting even if you don’t know how they’re important. (Only that they are.)
“im afraid due to recent unforseeable issues, we no longer have a position for you, so we’re going to have to let you go…not literally you understand, more of a metaphor…” *valued employee bursts into flames from HR’s eye lasers* “so i guess what im saying is that you are fired”
-raises hand- Question! In this rendition, would H.R. remove his glasses before firing the eye lasers or would they remain on? Such things are important for the placement of the YEAAAHHHH! so often associated with the action.
And it may even have some effect on replacement of his glasses & how it’s explained in the comic. For example, does HR have a spare pair of glasses in his desk drawer, to replace those that get melted by his eye-lasers?
He’ll probably remove his glasses before firing. You see, he can’t turn those lasers off because of some trauma in his childhood and those special ruby-quartz glasses are all that protects his surroundings from the eye-lasers.
Also, Carol may or may not come into contact with the mythical force of the Phoenix on her day off.
It’s the glowing eyes, the stubble, the slight smirk, and (somehow) that tie that all combine to make sure a perfect picture of cold, soulless madness.
The other “less loyal” would be all “HEY GUYS THE OVERRIDE KEYS ARE HERE, LET’S RAID THE BASEMENT!”, fill the elevator to the brim with other unloyal scum (Ferris would remind that’s a bad idea, now that it’s “public”) and turn the key as if they were turning on a giant mecha.
At best, H.R. would don a burlap sack mask and remind himself he needs more rope.
At worst (elevator failure due to weight), H.R. would have plenty of spell components. A fresh skull works better than an old one, right?
Either way, Ferris would be safe as the only sane man.
He was really hoping there was a Foosball table in the basement.
But nope, dudes in tubes and the shadowy menacing visage of the man who signs his paycheck.
Mondays, am I right?
Best possible scenario. Carol calls, says she forgot to mention while she was over but Ferris has shown exceptional loyalty and deserves a raise for his perfect attendance record. With Carol having vouched for his loyalty H.R. decides to bring him in on the project, get a fresh perspective on things. Ferris is now part of a trusted inner circle and well positioned for career advancement.
Seems Ferris is about to get a promotion…Instead of being just another “cogwheel” in the company, he’s now going to be on the Creative Team for source-material.
So does joining the game:
a) create a totally new person in Arkerra, or
b) cause the person entering the game to possess and take over the identity of an already pre-existing person in that world?
Probably both. Creates a “new” person, but also gives them a history. Everybody in the main five has a history going all the way back to childhood. Syr’Nj at least has a mother who likely remembers her birth. The tubes probably can create a backstory retroactively.
Is it also possible that the Five have been in the game from the beginning of much of the lore? Byron, Bandit, Gravedust, and Frigg all have some history, but Frigg’s doesn’t go back to childhood and the others don’t have any living relatives or people who’ve known them for many years. They’re also not royalty or otherwise well-known individuals. Their memories are all they have of their pasts, so it’s only necessary to retcon their own minds. It’s harder to create family or whole communities who know the individual, so Syr’Nj’s parents could have been a later addition to the game (perhaps in an expansion).
I don’t get the third panel. Where is that hand coming from? Is it Ferris’ about to touch the tube, or does Ferris see HR’s hand from (somewhere) and freak out?
…ok, I think I figured it out. Ferris involuntarily reaches his hand out, out of awe/wonder/confusion. It starts trembling, as he realizes something frightening (perhaps simply that it’s a human being – or maybe he’s putting the dots together, and realizing that the tube experiment announced publicly way-back-when has been going on for an inhumane amount of time).
Frightened, he bolts back to the elevator. But he stops suddenly, when he sees that HR is standing in his way.
… This is the first time I’ve noticed that HR’s tie is coloured. (Unless our dear creative team have pulled an Andrew Hussie, and it wasn’t coloured before now.)
I’ve noticed the color highlights from the start, but sporadically forget about them. A few pages back I was like “oh and that’s a pretty nice touch there! HR has this menacing eccentric-boss kind of bright purple tie!” and then… I realised that I actually knew his tie was coloured all along, and that I’ve gone through this realisation more than once before, so I felt like a dumbass for a moment. Well, the colors ARE a nice touch, and it’s kinda cool how some of them repeatedly ‘surprise’ me.
I haven’t realized it before, and it makes me sad that it’s not a new thing…my mind immediately began rabbiting down interesting trains of thought about WHY his tie was suddenly coloured…then I checked, saw it always had been, and had to discard them.
Now I’m kind of afraid. Did the cult really take over or strike a deal with HR? Did they tell him to act in exactly this way, knowing that it would be one of the few things that would cause Carol to forget the keys in the elevator? And that Ferris would promptly take the bait? Did they affect HR’s choices in lolcat videos, inching his mind over the edge? Conspiracies all, I tell you!
If HR planned this, I would assume it was HIS plan – to aid the cultists, sure, but they give no indication of having any idea of the details of the Sepia World, so they’d not be able to Xanatos it up all that well. Even with HR, it’s a bit Roulettish, but with the Cultists, the wheel would have 200 slots. Of each colour. Plus 6 greens. … And now my metaphor is getting away from me, so I’ll hush.
I think all the comments about installing this guy in the game (or worse) seem a little extreme reaction for HR.. I mean aren’t the players there legally? A vanishing person with already suspicious coworkers seems like a really bad idea.
How ironic she’s the cause of what she feared the most. Looks like H.R.’s bout to have a little fun…
A new member for the Guild?
New blood?
HR wants the game to beat the guild so they get kicked back to reality. Adding another highly creative member to the guild is not going to aid that goal.
I think HR is going to ask for help is solving the problem and Ferris is loyal enough not to spread what he now knows.
Looks like Ferris might be taking the rest of the day off.
Looks like Ferris might be taking the rest of his days off.
Fixed that for you. :)
Looks like Ferris might be taking THE REST.
Too many words. :)
Spare a quarter? Save Ferris!
Beuller? Beuller? Beuller?
Beuller? Beuller! BEULLEEEER!
H.R.’s gonna go full supervillain here. If he doesn’t go H.R. Pufnstuf.
Yup. H.R.’s still completely buggo in the brain-pan.
The moment you’ve been waiting for, the guy in the glasses does something, anything. ANYTHING AT ALL Or no, we’ll switch perspectives again on Friday to draw it out for one more week. But seriously, something will happen with this guy. Really, really soon. Soon.
Remember when we were told to just wait for it when we questioned “why Byron doesn’t do berserker stuff”?
Looks like we’re going to get a look at what a successful Arcanometry spell (Or it was Mathemagics?) looks like. Until now we’ve seen just failures.
Carol panics, leaves the keys in the elevator, Ferris comes in and step on my magic circle, imprisioning him and bringing back my deranged memories. Just as keikaku.
Byron was an interesting character even before he did Berserker stuff. The primary debates about Carol and HR during the first year, year and a half, of their storyline was whether or not they had eyes. They are a weight on the back of the narrative, a plot cul-de-sac the audience returns to again and again, only to exit (again and again) with nothing much having changed.
HR casts a spell. How did it affect the storyline? It didn’t. He stared at the tubes for awhile, broke a monitor. Did it affect the protagonists in any way? No. He rewrites the game to force a confrontation. Does it work? no. Misplaced slapstick comedy cultists reach beyond the veil to commune with him, and we see a screenshot of Battlezone. Does anything happen to affect the protagonists? No.
Every single sepia world scene can be removed from the narrative without affecting the World of Arkerra, or anyone in it. It would create no plot inconsistencies of any kind, because nothing HR or Carol have done have so much as nudged any of the protagonists in the bum. The 50-odd pages of sepia world storyline are a completely seperate, boring storyline that as of yet, has nothing to do with any of the protagonist characters of the primary narrative. Every page we spend in the tube room is a page we could have spent somewhere good.
Maybe this interminable storyline is finally going to bump fenders with the main narrative in a meaningful way. I hope so.
Primary narrative is so overrated.
If I got your text right, looks like you just don’t like the Sepia chapters while acknowledging they are sort of separate. One can just ignore Sepia World until HR makes a dent on the fabric of reality.
I kind of like both, but at first I was worried that it would be a “we got tired of fantasy, let’s make some slice of life” moment or, at first “it was just a game”. OK, still just a game. Only of The Matrix variety, and they can’t unplug until some gnome or goblin comes up with Arkerra’s first phone.
Either way, I’m too waiting for HR to do something “more than a footnote” just like Byron at Souf Kourral (“OK, we got enough Berserkin’ now you can stop. Please. STAHP”)
Eh. Each to their own.”Nothing happening” is the primary element of suspense. HR is dreadful–he has been established as a character who evokes dread. This moment wouldn’t have the effect it does if the dread and suspense hadn’t been established.
I justed wanted to mention that the structure of your argument reminds me in a way of some debates in philosophy of mind. Like: How would mental causation be possible? How can a system that is physically closed be influenced in any way? What does consciousness do?
I don’t know whether there is a take away message for the sepia world. Perhaps it would be that things can be interesting even if you don’t know how they’re important. (Only that they are.)
Okay, that last panel is mildly terrifying. Nice work.
heh, “valued employee”. very nice >:D
“im afraid due to recent unforseeable issues, we no longer have a position for you, so we’re going to have to let you go…not literally you understand, more of a metaphor…” *valued employee bursts into flames from HR’s eye lasers* “so i guess what im saying is that you are fired”
-raises hand- Question! In this rendition, would H.R. remove his glasses before firing the eye lasers or would they remain on? Such things are important for the placement of the YEAAAHHHH! so often associated with the action.
And it may even have some effect on replacement of his glasses & how it’s explained in the comic. For example, does HR have a spare pair of glasses in his desk drawer, to replace those that get melted by his eye-lasers?
He’ll probably remove his glasses before firing. You see, he can’t turn those lasers off because of some trauma in his childhood and those special ruby-quartz glasses are all that protects his surroundings from the eye-lasers.
Also, Carol may or may not come into contact with the mythical force of the Phoenix on her day off.
Nice. I was going to make a ruby quartz comment myself, but I never would have gone as far as tying in the Phoenix force. Well played, sir.
No no, obviously the glasses are made from the canopy of the shuttle that sent him to Earth, so the beams don’t affect it!
oh yeah. such a great last panel!
It’s the glowing eyes, the stubble, the slight smirk, and (somehow) that tie that all combine to make sure a perfect picture of cold, soulless madness.
Of course it’s the tie…In corporate circles it’s referred to as a “power tie.”
Ironic that he ran into H.R. on a “good day.”
May be a “good day” for HR, but not Ferris, I would presume…
I don’t think HR has been HR since that ritual a while back. Someone else is now running the show.
I don’t think HR has been HR since the tubes refused to return their contents.
But even then, he’s been dabbling in the Dark Arts since the day he began creating the game.
“The tubes refused to return their contents”.
Pretty much every celebrity who got stuff leaked on the ‘tubes. Once it is in the series of tubes, it’s there forever.
You can’t turn off the ‘tubes either.
good day, or did HR just break through crazy to the other side?
HR is far scarier now that he’s outwardly collected himself than when he was falling apart. Cold and calculating trumps raving mad any day.
Maybe Ferris is going to punch HR, knocn him out , escape to France and join the Foreign Legion.
Yeah, and maybe I’ll drop thirty pounds before September.
Ironic that it’s the loyal employee who’s in trouble.
If he was loyal, why would he go poking arond an area he knows he is not supposed to be in? o_O
Loyalty and obedience are not the same thing.
The other “less loyal” would be all “HEY GUYS THE OVERRIDE KEYS ARE HERE, LET’S RAID THE BASEMENT!”, fill the elevator to the brim with other unloyal scum (Ferris would remind that’s a bad idea, now that it’s “public”) and turn the key as if they were turning on a giant mecha.
At best, H.R. would don a burlap sack mask and remind himself he needs more rope.
At worst (elevator failure due to weight), H.R. would have plenty of spell components. A fresh skull works better than an old one, right?
Either way, Ferris would be safe as the only sane man.
This way, Ferris is taking the hit for everybody.
He was really hoping there was a Foosball table in the basement.
But nope, dudes in tubes and the shadowy menacing visage of the man who signs his paycheck.
Mondays, am I right?
I know right? Or maybe air hockey?
ironic that his name is the acronym for Human Resources too ;D
Yeah, its been seeming more an more appropriate, considering how it looks like he is about to turn another human into a resource.
“Hello, where can I find Human Resources?”
“Down the hall, on the right, refrigerator, lower shelf.”
Best possible scenario. Carol calls, says she forgot to mention while she was over but Ferris has shown exceptional loyalty and deserves a raise for his perfect attendance record. With Carol having vouched for his loyalty H.R. decides to bring him in on the project, get a fresh perspective on things. Ferris is now part of a trusted inner circle and well positioned for career advancement.
That can’t be the best possible scenario, there isn’t any candy raining down from the sky, and nothing is on fire.
and no one has lost their hat!
No no, when you Lose your Hat, that’s a Bad Plen.
Any plan where you lose your hat is…?
A bad plan.
Yes!
Even so, losing your hat is preferable to losing your head with it.
Also, no 500 lb. crates of Maine lobster for the BBQ grill & no Swedish Bikini team parachuting in either.
I like the way you think. Next we’re making plans, I want you on the team.
looks like Ferris is about to be a transitioned employee
Does HR have a holographic companion in a Maid’s outfit telling him to rub his balls into Ferris’s face?
Questionable Content readers will know what I’m talking about here…
YES!! Was thinking that when saw the glasses (in HR’s case, the HoloCom has taking over and is running the whole show)
HA! Same here. :-)
I lol’d
I thought that too! LOL
same thought!!!
Why can’t I have glasses that light up for no reason?
Reflection from the other lights in the room.
Either that or they’re augmented reality specs…
Because you’re not nuttier than a Claxton fruit cake.
I don’t think they light up for no reason! They might be VR glasses like Dale’s in Questionable Content:
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2491
er: this strip, and AR like Ivresse said ;)
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2487
So much for that raise
Seems Ferris is about to get a promotion…Instead of being just another “cogwheel” in the company, he’s now going to be on the Creative Team for source-material.
Ferris is about to learn the true meaning of Human Resources.
And possibly why “Human” shouldn’t be confused with “Humane”.
Here comes a new player!
So does joining the game:
a) create a totally new person in Arkerra, or
b) cause the person entering the game to possess and take over the identity of an already pre-existing person in that world?
Probably both. Creates a “new” person, but also gives them a history. Everybody in the main five has a history going all the way back to childhood. Syr’Nj at least has a mother who likely remembers her birth. The tubes probably can create a backstory retroactively.
That is both cool and interesting. Thanks for raising that possibility, Ganglet!
Gangler*. Sorry. D’oh.
Not too far off – Gangler’s children would be called “ganglets”.
So the tubes will automatically retcon the lore of the world?
that’s the theory! and it’s a pretty convincing theory.
Is it also possible that the Five have been in the game from the beginning of much of the lore? Byron, Bandit, Gravedust, and Frigg all have some history, but Frigg’s doesn’t go back to childhood and the others don’t have any living relatives or people who’ve known them for many years. They’re also not royalty or otherwise well-known individuals. Their memories are all they have of their pasts, so it’s only necessary to retcon their own minds. It’s harder to create family or whole communities who know the individual, so Syr’Nj’s parents could have been a later addition to the game (perhaps in an expansion).
I don’t get the third panel. Where is that hand coming from? Is it Ferris’ about to touch the tube, or does Ferris see HR’s hand from (somewhere) and freak out?
…ok, I think I figured it out. Ferris involuntarily reaches his hand out, out of awe/wonder/confusion. It starts trembling, as he realizes something frightening (perhaps simply that it’s a human being – or maybe he’s putting the dots together, and realizing that the tube experiment announced publicly way-back-when has been going on for an inhumane amount of time).
Frightened, he bolts back to the elevator. But he stops suddenly, when he sees that HR is standing in his way.
Correct interpretation?
Well, it’s not so much “interpretation” as “what’s happening in the pictures” :)
ahdok means that you’re correct. ;-)
OMG it’s the grue ! Quick, switch the lights on !
Oh wait…
“you can’t do that”
lol
“seriously?”
“congratulations, you are dead”
What if, what if. What if he puts him into the game as a villain?
That’s what I’d been thinking would happen too
That’s not creepy at all.
Holy Crap. HR IS William H Macy!!!
Being saying that since his first appearance (or near enough to it)
Has Mr Macy ever commented on this comic featuring him? (hope it’s positive comments if he has)
Anyone else notice his tie has color?!
Its a power tie.
Depending on how many souls you collect through out the day determines how illuminated the tie is.
HR’s tie has always had color.
Hello Gordon…
Please step into the test chamber.
“Hello…”
(Intruder? Dead man? Interloper? Meddling kid? Latest Test Subject? Oh, I think I have something with that last one…!)
“… … …Valued employee.“
http://inception.davepedu.com/
… This is the first time I’ve noticed that HR’s tie is coloured. (Unless our dear creative team have pulled an Andrew Hussie, and it wasn’t coloured before now.)
*ponders the meaning*
It’s always been that horrifying purple color.
Now that I notice, everything relevant is colored anything else than Sepia.
Always noticed the tie, but until now, the fact the tubes themselves aren’t sepia either further cement that’s no ordinary tie.
I’ve noticed the color highlights from the start, but sporadically forget about them. A few pages back I was like “oh and that’s a pretty nice touch there! HR has this menacing eccentric-boss kind of bright purple tie!” and then… I realised that I actually knew his tie was coloured all along, and that I’ve gone through this realisation more than once before, so I felt like a dumbass for a moment. Well, the colors ARE a nice touch, and it’s kinda cool how some of them repeatedly ‘surprise’ me.
I haven’t realized it before, and it makes me sad that it’s not a new thing…my mind immediately began rabbiting down interesting trains of thought about WHY his tie was suddenly coloured…then I checked, saw it always had been, and had to discard them.
That awkward moment when you forget your employee’s name. “Why don’t you step inside this glass tube . . . buddy? Watch your elbows . . . pal.”
“Keep you hands & feet inside the vehicle at all times, and at no time should your fingers leave their hands.”
Now I’m kind of afraid. Did the cult really take over or strike a deal with HR? Did they tell him to act in exactly this way, knowing that it would be one of the few things that would cause Carol to forget the keys in the elevator? And that Ferris would promptly take the bait? Did they affect HR’s choices in lolcat videos, inching his mind over the edge? Conspiracies all, I tell you!
If HR planned this, I would assume it was HIS plan – to aid the cultists, sure, but they give no indication of having any idea of the details of the Sepia World, so they’d not be able to Xanatos it up all that well. Even with HR, it’s a bit Roulettish, but with the Cultists, the wheel would have 200 slots. Of each colour. Plus 6 greens. … And now my metaphor is getting away from me, so I’ll hush.
I think all the comments about installing this guy in the game (or worse) seem a little extreme reaction for HR.. I mean aren’t the players there legally? A vanishing person with already suspicious coworkers seems like a really bad idea.