Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXIII: DeeganBallZ

[TheArsenal]

Snuggly is the lamest villain ever:

It has a stupid talking character (stupid Monolouge type villain)

Its part environmental message (Il get you captain Planet!)

It gets defeated by a teddy bear (Insert obligatory Care Bears Joke)

It losses every time we see him

And he cant even swallow his ****ing food (2 year old)

Oooh Im REAL tense now!


Edit:

A Limited amount of diolouge could potentialy be creepy:

Like if he only Said "Understand" or "This"

Like an echo. Or such.

[M84]

He does have an entry over on the TV Tropes page:

I'm guessing this was all before the Crawdad Cop.

(The actual answer to your question is: no. Celesto and the Storm of Souls were acting more eldritch than Audrey II is here.)

I remember writing that entry. Oh how things change.

To be fair, I don't really think this strip is a bad one. Just because Snuggles can talk doesn't make him a bad example of an Eldritch Abomination. Giygas from Earthbound, The Ancients from Eternal Darkness: Sanity' Requiem, the Old Gods from World of Warcraft, the Orz from Star Control II, Nyarlathotep, various SCPs from the SCP foundation, etc. are all pretty chatty, and it doesn't make them any less unnerving and otherworldly.

I do agree that Snuggle's words don't really convey a feeling of disturbing cosmic otherworldliness -- he just sounds like another run of the mill villain gloating about his power. If Mookie hadn't made Snuggle's speech understandable in these past few strips, Snuggles would have seemed much more threatening.

[Friv]

And he cant even swallow his ****ing food (2 year old)

Open your mouth, Snuggly, the airplane is coming in to land.

Eat up all your Dominic or you won't get any dessert.

Who's the cutest wittle Snuggly.

[Mr. McGician]

Theory: Snuggly is becoming more human because he is stealing human traits from actual humans, such as Greg's white magic. Now notice how relatively unloathable Greg was in the last arc, and how Snuggly is suddenly a complete braggart. Snuggly must have stolen Greg's smugness and added it to himself, becoming a completely new entity: Smuggly.

[mwchase]

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any preferences for how Snuggly "should" communicate, if he has to? I'm thinking the arcane screeching junk, getting filtered by Dominic's subconscious into dry, detached statements.

"To whom it may concern"
"You have come to our attention"
"Your violent actions have greatly impacted our activities"
"Please cease and desist of your own will"
"Or we shall have to compel your compliance"

And all the while Snuggly is barely paying attention, while wildly flailing tentacles lash at Dominic.

[T-O-E]

For the thread title, I propose Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Om Nom Dom. (Or, if you prefer, Dom Nom Nom, but I like Om Nom Dom better.)

If we're going for Lovecraft parodies, we could go for The Thing on the Derpstep, The Music of Facebath Zahn, The Doom That Came to KARNAK! (a bit late on that one), The Shadow Over Lynn's Brook, or The Snarked House.

No NecroDomicon?

...NecroNomDomiComiCon?

[Kizor]

I like Darkmyst's idea that Snuggly could take several strips to say one thing, and in the meantime keep attacking Dominic like it wasn't talking at all. Yours is good too, mwchase. Let me ponder the theory instead of showing actual creativity.

I think we can all agree that Snuggly should be unfathomable. Right? Bizarre looks and bizarre powers are nothing special, so its biggest selling point is the way it's alien and wrong. The trick with the crystal ball on Monday was actually really cool.

Smugness, pettiness, and conversation are right out, at least at first - the theories about Snuggly growing more human are great. Pure fury, hatred or whatever is also off-limits. It can't be an animal. A big rabid dog may be dangerous, but it's hardly eerie. One of the reasons the final boss of Earthbound (MEGA-SPOILERS IN THE VIDEO) is famously scary is that it's mindless, but not a mindless beast. The player is facing the remnants of a sentient being's destroyed mind, which may briefly seem to make sense but never do. That's how you do wrong.

It needs to do things that are inexplicable, but not lolrandom. Some writers can do this. Stanislaw Lem's Solaris is of course an example. In The Tripods, our alien overlords aren't scary and can be talked with, but there are these little details that I remember fondly. They have only one disease, and the way they talk about it makes it sound more like a sin. One that's captured by The Resistance proves talkative on their city, their goals, their defenses, but says nothing about what looks like a ball game. Similarly Snuggly can be studied, he can be defeated, things about him can be understood, but he must never be comprehended.

I wish I could write like that.

The "Mookie Modifier" was meant to imply the traits a strip crafted by Mookie posesses, rather than any attributes of the man himself (To wit, a concept in DD generally appears less intelligent, less likable and more prone to bogging the plot down purely by dint of its source).

I'm sorry.

Once agan, I'm laid low by my misdirected righteousness. Maybe this time I'll learn humility.

[Mewtarthio]

Oh no! Dominic is facing his greatest threat - an enemy with the same powers as his!

...no, not Visions or Second Sight. When was the last time Dominic used those to actually fix something? I'm talking about the ability to invent New Powers As The Plot Demands. Truly, which will be the greater Sue

"You can't touch me, Snuggly! I've brought my attack Luna! With a built-in Black Magic field!"

"Well I brought my other maw that eats Black Magic Lunas!"

[averagejoe]

Okay, no snarking. I honestly looked at today's comic, and my first, gut reaction was to dawwwwww at snuggly. That guy. <3

[Saph]

For the thread title, I propose Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Om Nom Dom.

Well, I was going to vote for You Don't Know The Power Of The Snark Side, but have to admit that yours is cooler.

[Welf]

And he cant even swallow his ****ing food (2 year old

2 years might be his actual age.

[Telonius]

Perhaps Mookie will end the strip in the next panel. Snuggly actually turns out to be a symbol of the collective internet criticism of Dominic Deegan.

[Traab]

You know, the fact that Snuggly didnt just devour dom probably means something. There are two main ways this can go down.

1) There is something preventing snuggly from finishing him off right away. For example, one story I read involved a man who could kill with illusions, but if you didnt believe they were real, they did nothing. In this case, snuggly isnt actually capable of stealing domonics powers, but was able to make him THINK he had. Dom wouldnt have just accepted death, he needs to be softened up first.

2) Standard arrogant bad guy maneuver and not taking the chance to kill dom now will bite him in the ass, (once he grows one) shortly.

[T-O-E]

He could be trying to turn Dominic into his slave, as with TIM.

[Domochevsky]

He could be trying to turn Dominic into his slave, as with TIM.

Yeah, Dominic losing a mental battle... that'll happen. >_>

[Trazoi]

My guess is Mookie realises that the last interlude reduced Snuggly to a threat level roughly on par with expired yoghurt, so this one is an attempt to beef him up again. He'll rough Dominic up a bit and until a Deegan Ex Machina bails Dom out (final burst of pure Dominus power frees him, another Deegan pulls him out, Snuggly gets bored and leaves etc.).

Of course it doesn't really build tension when both Dominic and Snuggly can pull whatever random powers they like out of their posteriors at will...

[mwchase]

Of course it doesn't really build tension when both Dominic and Snuggly can pull whatever random powers they like out of their posteriors at will...

Snuggly has a posterior?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

So, hands up everyone intimidated by Snuggly? I thought so.

[Johnny Blade]

My guess is Mookie realises that the last interlude reduced Snuggly to a threat level roughly on par with expired yoghurt, so this one is an attempt to beef him up again. He'll rough Dominic up a bit and until a Deegan Ex Machina bails Dom out (final burst of pure Dominus power frees him, another Deegan pulls him out, Snuggly gets bored and leaves etc.).

Of course it doesn't really build tension when both Dominic and Snuggly can pull whatever random powers they like out of their posteriors at will...

Celesto is very cross with you for forgetting his rear end.


(I actually really believe he'll randomly pop up. He'll save the day, spout some dumb anti-hero stuff, and then stand back trying to look cool as Dominic struts his Sue stuff.)

[Trazoi]

Celesto is very cross with you for forgetting his rear end.

I figure at this point Celesto is one step away from becoming an honorary Deegan. Two if he has to put some clothes on first.

(I actually really believe he'll randomly pop up. He'll save the day, spout some dumb anti-hero stuff, and then stand back trying to look cool as Dominic struts his Sue stuff.)

I half expect this, but I don't know if there's an unwritten rule about Dominic never getting bailed out by icky anti-heroes. I'm guessing the only way Dom would allow himself to be saved rescued by Celesto is if Celesto does something stupid to distract Snuggly, thus leaving the pecking order intact.

[Johnny Blade]

Well, I think as long as Dominic vanquishes the foul beast in the end, everything's okay. Or maybe Celesto serves as a distraction, Dominic rebounds instantly and they team up for this fight.



Honestly, though, my main reason for believing this will happen is that it would be so terribly repetitive. It would just say so much about the comic if it would have taken this plot literally years to go from a fight against the main antagonist to...basically the same fight with some role reversal.

Of course, I'm sure Mookie can do worse.

[Lyesmith]

I bet you this winds up in BUT WE ARE IN MY MIND TROLOLOLOL
Betcha.

[Wraith]

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any preferences for how Snuggly "should" communicate, if he has to?

Flashbacks throughout the comic, taking single panels out of context in order to use the voices of Dominic's friends and allies to create a plausible dialogue on Snuggly's behalf.

That would imply not only that Snuggly is too horrifically alien to speak human words, but at the same time is intelligent enough to comprehend language should it choose to and has the power to beam 'visions' directly into Dominic's brain whether he wants it to or not.

And that it has been watching Dominic - and all of the people he loves dearly - undetected, unopposed and with impunity. For a very, very long time......

[SnowballMan]

You know, the fact that Snuggly didnt just devour dom probably means something. There are two main ways this can go down.

1) There is something preventing snuggly from finishing him off right away. For example, one story I read involved a man who could kill with illusions, but if you didnt believe they were real, they did nothing. In this case, snuggly isnt actually capable of stealing domonics powers, but was able to make him THINK he had. Dom wouldnt have just accepted death, he needs to be softened up first.

2) Standard arrogant bad guy maneuver and not taking the chance to kill dom now will bite him in the ass, (once he grows one) shortly.

3) Dom tastes so bad Snuggly simply cannot force himself to swallow. I could make a dirty joke here. But I'll refrain.

I just find it interesting that he is not simply eating Dominic. He's eating the comic panel that Dominic is in.

[rocketpony]

Flashbacks throughout the comic, taking single panels out of context in order to use the voices of Dominic's friends and allies to create a plausible dialogue on Snuggly's behalf.\

That sounds incredible and I'm going to go with that over just echoing Dominic's words, AND over just not having word balloons but being surrounded by blurred sentence fragments.

[Helanna]

That sounds incredible and I'm going to go with that over just echoing Dominic's words, AND over just not having word balloons but being surrounded by blurred sentence fragments.

Indeed, although I think even something like this could work pretty well for Snuggly. It kind of seems like that's what Mookie was going for, but . . . better. With the linked comic, I spent ages trying to figure out what the text underneath said. With Dominic Deegan, it's just lazy scribbles, and doesn't really convey an otherworldly multitude of voices like the Phoenix Requiem does.

There is so much that could be done with an otherworldly, completely and 100% inhuman monster like Snuggly. But Mookie has once again ruined it in the execution.

[Trazoi]

Ha, am I so glad I'm reading the comic this week:
THIS IS STUPID - sneaky gate
Future Link

You couldn't predict this stuff if you tried. It's brilliant.

[mwchase]

He what? How? But...

I'm with Snuggly on this. Dominic just... decided... to turn into a bug-furry. The guy who hates alterism for giving him childhood trauma visions grew mandibles and lobster claws.

He should not have been able to do this thing that he should not be willing to do.

Edit: I mean, this would be borderline excusable if they were in a psychoplane, but Dominic isn't projected; as other have noted, Mookie clearly drew the artificial leg. So this is actually happening, physically.

[SnowballMan]

I'm with Snuggly on this. Dominic just... decided... to turn into a bug-furry. The guy who hates alterism for giving him childhood trauma visions grew mandibles and lobster claws.

Clearly, this just means Snuggly needs more butter.

[Castel]

Dom Lobster!

Man! This page is pure gold, it's like a return to the golden age of snark! Powers coming out of nowhere? Amazingly cheesy dialogue? Ridiculous designs?

"IMPOSSIBLE."