Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXVIII: This Show Blew My Boogeyman

[Lillith]

Snuggly Wuggly Duggalee Doo
I've got another puzzle for you.
Snuggly Wuggly Duggalee Dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me
What do you get when you're fighting with swords
Prancing around for some chinzy awards?
Fencing a sport where you look like a fool
If your style is to swish about trying to look cool
You are not an ice skater
Snuggly Wuggly Duggalee Dah
If you're no jock than you will go far
You will live in happiness too
Like the Snuggly Wuggly Duggalee Do!

You, good sir, win an internet.

[Welf]

The most likely explanation is the snugs were pulled completely into the real world. Remember, celestos entire plan was to make people SEE a snuggly popping out of chances chest. That infers they can already enter the material plane, so dom basically set that up so everyone else could see them before the chest bursting occurs. It sucks that the rules of magic are virtually nonexsitant in this area, my original theory is that the snugs were some sort of incorporeal creatures capable of becoming solid when they wish. Now? i dont care enough to keep trying to come up with a reasonable excuse for this.

Ok, lets guess what the mini snugs are doing now!

1) Spelling out a message of some sort. (Seems to make some sense considering szarks words at the end.)

2) Forming a full sized snuggly beast

3) Linking together to unleash some sort of lyns brook level of destruction.

4) Forming a net so noone can escape, while celestro sets up his framing of the king

5) Same as 4 but celestro ruins his own plan by revealing himself and yelling at dom.

7) The learned an important lesson about friendship and are hugging now.

Bingo!

Spoiler

Show

Top left: A problem is solved off-screen with no explanation given.
Top center: Mookie takes one of his own metaphors too literally.
Top right: Chance and Heliner have to work together.
Center left: The King has a plan that’s at least as stupid as Celesto’s.
Center: Spark does something vaguely useful.
Center right: Lobster Dom shows up again.
Bottom left: Mookie creates a Voodoo Shark when trying to patch up a plot hole.
Bottom center: Dominic has to use a sword for some reason.
Bottom right: A strip brings up a problem that was just pointed out in one of the forums.

Congrats. You rightfully earned your price: A lifelong supply of Dominic Deegan strips. You just have to download them.

Pity for Trazoi that one of his categories depended too much on interpretation.


But that wasn't a bad update. The fixing of a plot hole was approached, and it's nice that Chance thinks logically by giving the sword to a real swordsman. Also that this swordsman is his new found mentor Scarlatti. This is not at odds with consistent characterization.

[Garland]

Silly Scarlatti. Sword of Omens are for Lion-os!

Just use your idiotic resistant sword instead.

[Kris Strife]

Silly Scarlatti. Sword of Omens are for Lion-os!

Just use your idiotic resistant sword instead.

He wasn't allowed to bring it so he couldn't maim anyone for life.

[Palmer]

So everyone wears those black gloves, huh?

[Welf]

You need gloves for fencing. Otherwise you might get hurt. Even if they are not sharp there's a lot of pressure concentrated in one point. I once got an accidental, not aimed stab by another amateur on my unprotected left thump and it hurt for months. Why they are black... Rule of Trying to Be Cool.

[random11]

Great.

From what I see here, no one really understands what just happened (including Mookie?).
And now, instead of any hope to get information, we get a new thing that should, but will never be explained.

[Welf]

Well, True Art is incomprehensible.

[Gez]

It's not incomprehensible. Snuggly wants to be friend with and hug everyone. Celesto's ersatz Snugglets, although they are convincing imitation, are not the real thing and they have different desires. Specifically, playing Cat's Cradle all together.

What's important to remember is that whatever they do, it's cute, innocent and child-like.

[Zaq]

It's not incomprehensible. Snuggly wants to be friend with and hug everyone. Celesto's ersatz Snugglets, although they are convincing imitation, are not the real thing and they have different desires. Specifically, playing Cat's Cradle all together.

What's important to remember is that whatever they do, it's cute, innocent and child-like.

Yup. I'm totally imagining them singing in a children's chorus as they all hold hands and dance around. It's a little annoying, as children's choruses usually are, but it's also cute.

[St. Salieri]

I really don't have anything to add to the discussion of the utter ridiculousness that is This Arc, but this morning I heard a familiar song that for some reason inspired me. I'm pretty sure someone has done something like this on these forums before, so consider this a double homage.

"Dominian Rhapsody"
(The misspelling is intentional; prounounce it dom-IN-ee-ehn, as in "related to the Dominus.")


Readers:
Is this the real world? Is this a psychoplane?
Caught in a mindscape, think it's gonna drive us insane...

Dominic:
Open your eyes! Look up to me, guys, and See!

Chance:
I'm just a spoiled boy, but I got Dom's sympathy.

Celesto:
'Cause his morals come, morals go;
Mercy high, Mindrape low!

Dominic:
Any way the plot goes, doesn't really matter to me.

Mookie:
Or me?

(Musical Interlude)

Chance:
Mama, just stabbed our man;
Put my sword against his face,
Had to put him in his place.
Mama, I had just begun,
When Snuggly came to take it all away.
Mama, oo-oo-oo-ooh,
Didn't mean to waste your time:
If there's no plot again this time tomorrow,
Carry on, carry on, because nothing really matters.

(Musical Interlude)

Dominic:
At last, my time has come!
Got shivers down my spine, I've been naked all this time.
Hey there, everybody, I've got to go:
Gotta draw a sword to make you See the Truth!

Szark:
Dommy, oo-oo-oo-ooh,
I don't wanna try;
I sometimes wish I knew how to talk at all!

(Musical Interlude)

Scarlatti:
I see a little silhouetto of an eye!

Audience:
Snuggly Beast, Snuggly Beast, will you do a small tango?

Celesto:
Tentacles and eye-things, blame it on the blind King, see?

Dominic:
It's Celesto!

Chance:
It's Celesto?

Dominic:
Yes, Celesto!

Chance:
It's Celesto!

Random Audience Member #1:
Who's Celesto?

Random Audience Member #2:
I dunno.

Celesto:
You will explode! (-ode! -ode! -ode!)

Chance:
I'm just a kid, man, why detonate me?

Celesto:
He's just a spoiled brat from a snob family;
Spare not his life from my monstrosities!

Scarlatti:
He's a dangerous whelp, will you let me help?

Dominic:
NEW SWORD-SCRY!

Szark:
No, I will not let you help!

Scarlatti:
Let me help!

Dominic:
NEW SWORD-SCRY!

Szark:
I will not let you help!

Scarlatti:
Let me help!

Dominic:
NEW SWORD-SCRY!

Szark:
I will not let you help!

Scarlatti & Staff:
Let us help!

Szark:
Will not let you help!

Scarlatti & Staff:
Let us help!

Szark:
Will not let you help!

Scarlatti & Staff:
Let us help!

Szark:
No, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Chance:
Oh someone help me, someone help me!

Dominic:
Ev'rybody, SEE THE TRUTH!

Snuggly:
Does anyone have a hug that they will give to me, to me, to me?

(Musical Interlude)

Dominic:
So you think you can ward me and keep out my Sight?
So you think you can toss me out into the night?
Oh, people; can't do that to me, people!
I've just gotta get out, get out my new scrying powers!

(Musical Interlude)

Snarkers:
Nothing really matters; Dommy always wins.
Nothing really mattters,
Nothing really matters to him.



(I hope it's obvious, but in case I failed miserably, this is the source/tune.)

[Domochevsky]

MHm... ok yeah, im picturing it. Solid job there.

[mwchase]

So, I finally managed to get together enough squares a few days ago. I'm sick, so I'm just going to plop them down in text form, for the moment. We're starting new bingo now, right?

Spoiler

Show

Upper Left: In discussing the comic, Mookie conflates two utterly unrelated things (e.g. 4 ft standing high jump -> "dance training")
Upper Middle: Between strips, a character changes target or focus with no segue whatsoever
Upper Right: Mookie must fight his own character design to portray something
Middle Left: Mookie consciously avoids a course of action that would make a protagonist look like a horrible monster, but does so for unrelated reasons
Middle Square: Principles of logic are required to work out what Mookie was even trying to depict
Middle Right: A character holds back on pursuing the proper course of action, because Mookie thinks it would be "dramatic" for them to wait arbitrarily
Lower Left: "There's no time for X!" - X is later accomplished in the space of a panel
Lower Middle: Any technique or item proves laughably unsuited for its stated purpose, but does have some secondary utility
Lower Right: Tell, don't show (e.g. Dominic has "given back" his Champion abilities. How? When? WHY?)

As you can see, my strategy can be summed up as "Lightning will strike twice."

[rocketpony]

"Dominian Rhapsody"

This is beautiful
You're beautiful
Be beautiful forever

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I really don't have anything to add to the discussion of the utter ridiculousness that is This Arc, but this morning I heard a familiar song that for some reason inspired me. I'm pretty sure someone has done something like this on these forums before, so consider this a double homage.

"Dominian Rhapsody"
(The misspelling is intentional; prounounce it dom-IN-ee-ehn, as in "related to the Dominus.")
win

Yes.
Yyyyeeesss.
I just song this out loud at the top of my voice.
It was glorious.

[Zaq]

You know, I usually get bored with song parodies a few lines in (with a couple exceptions, like the time I got inspired to make a Tale of Genji-based parody of Thriller), but that? That was awesome. Good show, sir.

[Trazoi]

Behold, the most touching moment in Dominic Deegan history.

[Zaq]

Awwwww. Twoo wuv.

This is why Snuggly's working with the king! DJ Callan will actually give him the attention and the hugs he so desperately craves!

[Gez]

Even if it's just a Celestollusion meant to artificially incriminate King DJ for the ersatz Snugglets, it's still an adawwwwrable scene.

[Erik von Nein]

what is this i don't even

Nice ruse there, Celesto. Make the puppet-squishies show the arena it's Facebook page and hope no one pays attention to HOW FREAKING OUT OF PLACE THAT IS.

But it is an adorable picture. They just BELONG so well. I hope to see THAT wedding arc!

[Palmer]

That's his plan? Ten or twenty of the little beastlings were gonna come flying out of Chance, link together, and show an FMV of the king just chilling with the Alpha King Beast? And then kill the kid anyways? I assume they're just bored, or figure why the hell not? It's like when you go out to do some grocery shopping and buy some gum too, you didn't come there looking for gum and don't really need it, but hey, while you're there, right?
Hell, why not have the things fly around in jumbotron mode, showing the entire kingdom? Then we can have an angry mob approach Castle Callan and explain how the tentacle monster video screen made out of the creature you're aligned with dropped a dime on you for no goddamn reason. Are they to assume the beast is naturally predisposed to ratting itself out? Is he The Riddler? Chaos magic must be the Deegan equivalent to lead paint.

levd paivt.

[Thark]

Okay that's not a very good plan at all....

[M84]

As bizarre as this development is, it does present a good moral quandary for Dominic. Will he go along with Celesto's deception since it exposes the King's very real connection to Snuggles, or will he expose it for a lie and draw the King's attention to Celesto and himself? Either option is pretty bad since going along with Celesto's deception just proves that Celesto's method of saving the world through murder and deception is valid, and exposing it could potentially ruin any chance of stopping the King and Snuggles.

[Gez]

From the goons:



Also one of them wanted to combine this update with MSPA somehow:

[Trazoi]

As bizarre as this development is, it does present a good moral quandary for Dominic. Will he go along with Celesto's deception since it exposes the King's very real connection to Snuggles, or will he expose it for a lie and draw the King's attention to Celesto and himself? Either option is pretty bad since going along with Celesto's deception just proves that Celesto's method of saving the world through murder and deception is valid, and exposing it could potentially ruin any chance of stopping the King and Snuggles.

The problem is neither option should make any difference.

If Dominic goes along with the plan, it should still fail because it's so painfully stupid. The king will crack down on him, ordinary Callanians will consider Dominic a traitor and the only support Dom can get is from his close circle of friends.

If Dominic doesn't go along with the plan and exposes Celesto, then any later claims against the king will look like similar falsehoods. But the king is already beloved by all Callanians and controls the entire country, so that should be the default. The king will crack down on Dom anyway because of his involvement, ordinary Callanians won't help him, and the only support Dom will get is from his close circle.

And if Celesto didn't do any of this... it should also be exactly the same situation. Dominic is up against the king and an arch-mage. This is already at maximum level of difficulty. Making it even harder isn't upping the stakes, it's failing to realise how high the stakes should be already.

[rocketpony]

It's kind of weird that for a kingdom of wizards, the first response is "Wait, is that the king?" and not "Wait, is this an illusion?" Since illusion is a thing people do. Wizards do. There are wizards whose entire skillset centers on you seeing things that aren't there.
But I guess that since so-called visions aren't admissible in a court of law, it's not unreasonable that seeing a movie shown to you by some goofball monsters right before they murder a kid establishes probable cause. The Callanian court system is either a complete mess, or just an institutionalized kangaroo court.

Bonus note: "Oh hey, a photo of a kid with a lion! CLEARLY THE CHILD CONTROLS LIONS."

[Trazoi]

It's kind of weird that for a kingdom of wizards, the first response is "Wait, is that the king?" and not "Wait, is this an illusion?"

What struck me as odd was that is was Scarlatti saying it. Scarlatti isn't Callanian, he's Semashi. Clearly he is in on the whole scheme dun dun dun.

[Wraith]

I think you've hit the main problem with this part of the plot right on the nail, rocketpony.

At this point, no one else knows that Celesto is involved - the only mage that they know to be present is Dominic Deegan, a Seer who can plant visions into peoples' minds and is well known for using illusions as his favoured school of magic.
He has already been ejected from the building for having, in some way, offended the well-known and respected Masters family, and is now hanging around outside the building in a trance while weird things happen within.

And yet, everyone's first and only reaction is "Wow, I totally believe everything that I'm seeing as Gospel!" Where's the incredulity? Where's the paranoia?
If nothing else, the King has a reputation as being a wise, powerful and benevolent monarch (Even Miranda didn't know any better until recently) so why would anyone believe otherwise just on the say-so of some mysterious monster that has turned up and is trying to kill everybody?

It's just too easy.

[Shogo]

Yeeeeeah . . . . Celesto's plan is retarded in every conceivable way.

I know people in this comic are supposed to be dumb as all hell, but I'm pretty sure that even small children could see through that ruse.

"What's this? The horrible monsters that were trying to kill this boy have arbitrarily decided to form a view screen? Is that our King chillaxing with one of these abominations? Clearly our King is an evil fiend plotting to destroy us all! His history of good deeds and effective leadership were but a dastardly ruse! Oh what fools are we!"

I mean, damn. If someone tried this on me my very first thought would be that someone is trying to render the nation impotent in the face of some greater threat by trying to turn the people against their monarch and spark a civil war/revolution.

That or I'd be all "Oh hey. It's a Callanian ally. Clearly this kid must be an evil fiend. Why else would our beloved King, who gave us that never used teleportation network, send psychoplanar assassins?"

[T-O-E]

What struck me as odd was that is was Scarlatti saying it. Scarlatti isn't Callanian, he's Semashi. Clearly he is in on the whole scheme dun dun dun.

I thought he just lived there?