OOTS 2016 Villains Calendar and 2015 Holiday Ornament

Oh my gods i love the new designs hey look epic... i think Redcloak looks epic in his improved outfit... I would buy it if i could, but my mum won't let me :smallfrown:

When did the symbolism-free Vaarsuvius vs Troll image appear? I really like it for its refreshing straightforwardness.

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Originally Posted by The Giant

I don't really have any Lawful characters who don't skew heavily toward either Good or Evil, so it's been put on hold. I don't want to put out a Law shirt with, say, Malack or Roy or someone on it because that will skew the perception of Lawfulness. The best I have right now are the lawyers, and they're more of a gag than a true representation of Law. But new characters pop up all the time, so when I have one, that's the year that the Law shirt will come out.

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Celia.

I always figured Celia was the character for the "Law" shirt.

Yeah, she's a lawyer, but she's more than a one-joke character like Mr. Jones & Mr. Rodriguez, she's adventured with the Order for a while and helped rescue Roy's body, she's dating Roy and had serious philosophical discussions, that means she's definitely beyond being a gag character.

She's the non-joke character who seems to best exemplify lawfulness in the strip.

There was a small increase in the amount of people who Googled the word "Weal" yesterday. I wonder why...

Calendar ordered! The previous calendars were all great. Nad next year, I might need to buy a T-Shirt with the Order marching across...

I wonder if Miko's in the villains calendar.

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Originally Posted by Gift Jeraff

I wonder if Miko's in the villains calendar.

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Miko is an antagonist, but not a villain. I doubt it.

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Originally Posted by Gift Jeraff

I wonder if Miko's in the villains calendar.

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Originally Posted by Keltest

Miko is an antagonist, but not a villain. I doubt it.

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Or she could be in the calendar with the characters at the bottom bringing up that very objection. :smallwink:

Room for even more interplay if Redcloak gripes about her being in this calendar followed the roaches making a side comment like "I thought she was a villian to you, Red".

Redcloak's new design is sick. I can't wait to see the rest of Team Evil. Speaking of which, they've been absent since Girard's pyramid exploded. I hope when everything with the Godsmoot is wrapped up, we'll see what they've been up to.

Since we're talking about merchandise, are there any plans to sell posters? I've bought the calendars the past two years going on a third solely for the art, and I'm always bummed to put them away when the year is over. (I've never wanted to undo the binding to post the pages individually since it would separate them from the character commentary.) The new artwork is brilliant, and I would definitely be in the market for a poster in the ultra HD style.

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Originally Posted by The Giant

I don't really have any Lawful characters who don't skew heavily toward either Good or Evil, so it's been put on hold.

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Not to contradict you, but wouldn't you say that this is what Miko was about in the end?

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Originally Posted by littlebum2002

There was a small increase in the amount of people who Googled the word "Weal" yesterday. I wonder why...

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Sadly, I actually knew what it meant. :smalleek:

I read "The Worm Ouroboros" by E.R. Eddison when I was 12, and it contains part of the Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer at the beginning, which features the lines:

‘Betide me weal, betide me woe,
That weird shall never daunton me;’

So, I knew that pre-Google, back in the hoary days of dead tree dictionaries. An old friend, you might say. :smallbiggrin:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway ...

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Originally Posted by The Giant

It took me a while to figure out what the proper interpretation of the goblin stick figure feet would be in the upgraded style. In last year's calendar, I had him barefoot with the old-style three-toe foot, just in green. And it looked weak and unthreatening, and I didn't like it. When I started working on the O-Chul story, I came up with new goblin footwear for the enemy soldiers in that story, and I liked it enough to bring it over to Redcloak.

So starting now, armored goblin-types get nice heavy boots instead.

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Wow, so that's what Redcloak is going to look like next time we see him? I almost forgot the three-toe look anyway; it certainly makes him look a bit more alien, I must say.

I have to say, Xykon and Redcloak look incredibly awesome in the new style. Especially Redcloak, with his new sabatons.

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Originally Posted by Cirin

Celia.

I always figured Celia was the character for the "Law" shirt.

Yeah, she's a lawyer, but she's more than a one-joke character like Mr. Jones & Mr. Rodriguez, she's adventured with the Order for a while and helped rescue Roy's body, she's dating Roy and had serious philosophical discussions, that means she's definitely beyond being a gag character.

She's the non-joke character who seems to best exemplify lawfulness in the strip.

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Celia's also certainly a Good character, to a fault. She goes out of her way to avoid harming other creatures, even when harming creatures would save more lives in the long run.

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Originally Posted by Corian

Not to contradict you, but wouldn't you say that this is what Miko was about in the end?

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I'd argue that taking due process into your own hands and killing a defenseless octogenarian skews a little away from Lawful. There's also the part where she destroyed a cornerstone of space-time (and weakened the fabric of reality in the process) based on a hunch…

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Anyhow, to keep things on topic… Xykon's got a brow ridge now? Nice.

Wooo! We finally get to see :thog:, :sabine:, :nale:, :xykon:, :redcloak: and :mitd: in the latest art update
Will we see the lawyers as well?

ESPECIALLY liking the look of Badass Redcloak at the moment. That's why he's one of my favourite villains!

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Originally Posted by The Giant

...When I started working on the O-Chul story, I came up with new goblin footwear for the enemy soldiers in that story, and I liked it enough to bring it over to Redcloak.

So starting now, armored goblin-types get nice heavy boots instead.

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Combat boots with individual weird toes? Yeah, that definitely IS evil.

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Originally Posted by The Recreator

Celia's also certainly a Good character, to a fault. She goes out of her way to avoid harming other creatures, even when harming creatures would save more lives in the long run.

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O'Chul is a Lawful Good character, defintiely lawful, but he was Good enough to be the character for the "Good" shirt.

Xykon is incredibly chaotic, but he was the character for "Evil" and not "Chaos".

Being NG, NE, LN or NE doesn't seem to be what the point is.

Yeah, Celia is Good, but it seems more that she's extraordinarily lawful. She doesn't want to kill, but that seems just as much for the fact she sees it as being against the law, not just the written law, but the natural order of things, as in what she perceives as how the universe works, in a lawful fashion.

Think in Greysky City, when she's cornered by the Thieves Guild and she goes into a rage. . .and she wants to begin contract negotiations.

. . .that's the act of an incredibly Lawful character. Modrons would look at that reaction with approval.

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Originally Posted by Cirin

O'Chul is a Lawful Good character, defintiely lawful, but he was Good enough to be the character for the "Good" shirt.

Xykon is incredibly chaotic, but he was the character for "Evil" and not "Chaos".

Being NG, NE, LN or NE doesn't seem to be what the point is.

Yeah, Celia is Good, but it seems more that she's extraordinarily lawful. She doesn't want to kill, but that seems just as much for the fact she sees it as being against the law, not just the written law, but the natural order of things, as in what she perceives as how the universe works, in a lawful fashion.

Think in Greysky City, when she's cornered by the Thieves Guild and she goes into a rage. . .and she wants to begin contract negotiations.

. . .that's the act of an incredibly Lawful character. Modrons would look at that reaction with approval.

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I dunno, Celia's pacifism seems to me to stem from her Good side: she doesn't want to see anyone hurt, even people she, personally, doesn't like. Her unwillingness to break or even bend that rule (ie she refuses even to use non-lethal violence in self-defense) is Lawful, but her Lawfulness is backing up her Goodness, not the other way around. (At least as I read it; as someone once said to me, D&D alignments are so vaguely defined that any action can be argued to fit under any alignment.)

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Originally Posted by Corian

Not to contradict you, but wouldn't you say that this is what Miko was about in the end?

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Miko was Lawful Good. She also happened to a) be wrong and b) have 'not thinking I could be wrong' as a fatal flaw.

She knew Roy was responsible for destroying a Gate. Roy claimed to have also destroyed a lich she later encountered leading a goblinoid army against Azure City. The possibility that Roy was in league with the lich was a real one. Her mistake was taking it as an absolute given and trying to fit everything else (including learning of Shojo's deception) along side it. Even after her 'fall', destroying the sapphire was what O-Chul (unquestionably LG) had already decided to do. Of course, once she made up her mind to do so she didn't look around to see it no longer needed to be done, but that's a logical flaw - not an alignment one.

Calendar ordered.

And I figured out how you can give everyone free shipping, Rich.

1. Read this list
2. ?????
3. Assume control over the world
4. Order the postal service to provide free shipping on people's mandatory purchase and enjoyment of OOTS
5. PROFIT!!

Admittedly, that second step is a bit of a doozy.

Is Redcloak crossing his fingers behind his back?

Just wanted to update you all on the calendar status.

They're running a few days behind—because apparently nobody can print things around the holidays on the schedule they claim they can—but the calendar will leave the printer tomorrow morning. So they should be in Ookoodook's hands on the 17th, and everything should be shipped out by the following Monday at the latest (and I wouldn't be shocked if they got them all shipped by the end of the 18th, since there are a lot less orders than last year when there was a new book out at the same time). If you're a US customer, I would say there is virtually no chance of you not getting it before the 24th. I suppose if the USPS loses your package, specifically, but that's why tracking numbers exist.

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Originally Posted by The Giant

Just wanted to update you all on the calendar status.

They're running a few days behind—because apparently nobody can print things around the holidays on the schedule they claim they can—but the calendar will leave the printer tomorrow morning. So they should be in Ookoodook's hands on the 17th, and everything should be shipped out by the following Monday at the latest (and I wouldn't be shocked if they got them all shipped by the end of the 18th, since there are a lot less orders than last year when there was a new book out at the same time). If you're a US customer, I would say there is virtually no chance of you not getting it before the 24th. I suppose if the USPS loses your package, specifically, but that's why tracking numbers exist.

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You know, with all the hassles and mishaps and extra administration needed around Christmas shipping every year, I for one would not blame you in the slightest if you decided to change it up next year. I.e. decided that from now on your holiday calendars and branded items were created and sent for printing in early November, with a goal of delivery by Thanksgiving. Just so that by the time your printers and partners collectively had their act together it'd still be in time for Christmas. :smallbiggrin:

Thanks for the updates, and your efforts each year to provide some fun variations on your characters.

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Originally Posted by Spoomeister

You know, with all the hassles and mishaps and extra administration needed around Christmas shipping every year, I for one would not blame you in the slightest if you decided to change it up next year. I.e. decided that from now on your holiday calendars and branded items were created and sent for printing in early November, with a goal of delivery by Thanksgiving. Just so that by the time your printers and partners collectively had their act together it'd still be in time for Christmas. :smallbiggrin:

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That would require me getting the art for the calendars done in early October, and I have no reason to believe that is a thing I will ever be able to make happen—based largely on the fact that I have attempted to make it happen every year I have done a calendar and have not successfully managed it yet.

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Originally Posted by The Giant

Just wanted to update you all on the calendar status.

They're running a few days behind—because apparently nobody can print things around the holidays on the schedule they claim they can—but the calendar will leave the printer tomorrow morning. So they should be in Ookoodook's hands on the 17th, and everything should be shipped out by the following Monday at the latest (and I wouldn't be shocked if they got them all shipped by the end of the 18th, since there are a lot less orders than last year when there was a new book out at the same time). If you're a US customer, I would say there is virtually no chance of you not getting it before the 24th. I suppose if the USPS loses your package, specifically, but that's why tracking numbers exist.

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Sweet, thanks! Now I just have to hope the mail delivery comes in before I leave for my flight.

By the way have I thanked you for the monster mini kickstarted rewards yet? If not, then THANK YOU. I've ised them in every single game I've played or ran and I've used the included templates to make custom minis for all my players and PCs and for other players in other games on request. They are amazing.

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Originally Posted by CoffeeIncluded

Sweet, thanks! Now I just have to hope the mail delivery comes in before I leave for my flight.

By the way have I thanked you for the monster mini kickstarted rewards yet? If not, then THANK YOU. I've ised them in every single game I've played or ran and I've used the included templates to make custom minis for all my players and PCs and for other players in other games on request. They are amazing.

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Indeed. I was able to use the blank template (and some art generously provided by a forumite) to have a custom mini for the All Wizards, All the Time campaign we were running. And I've been trying to pull together the resources to run something, so I'm sure the rest will see lots of use!

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Originally Posted by The Giant

I don't really have any Lawful characters who don't skew heavily toward either Good or Evil, so it's been put on hold. I don't want to put out a Law shirt with, say, Malack or Roy or someone on it because that will skew the perception of Lawfulness. The best I have right now are the lawyers, and they're more of a gag than a true representation of Law. But new characters pop up all the time, so when I have one, that's the year that the Law shirt will come out.

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What about Kilkil and Mr. Jones and Rodriguez?

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Originally Posted by Reddish Mage

What about <SNIP> Mr. Jones and Rodriguez?

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*cough*

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Originally Posted by The Giant

The best I have right now are the lawyers, and they're more of a gag than a true representation of Law.

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:smallsmile:

As for Kilkil, he's an incredibly minor character who seems to be perfectly happy to pervert the law of the land in order to follow Tarquin's instructions (e.g. the trickery used to ensure that Enor and Ganji got imprisoned). While it's certainly arguable that he's doing that out of fear, someone who will betray his principles out of fear doesn't scream Lawful to me.

Update: I just found out that the calendars still have not left the printer, with no explanation listed. I am furious. I will be calling them the moment their customer service hours open and yelling at them, demanding that they ship them overnight to Ookoodook on their dime. We'll see how that goes.

Update to the Update: I have "persuaded" the printer to upgrade my freight to 2-day shipping for free, so calendars are back on schedule to arrive at Ookoodook either late on the 17th or 7:00 AM on the 18th. That still fits in with my previous belief that Ook would get them all in the mail before next Monday, so we should be all good.