Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XLIV: Stunt Bro and Hella Jayden

[Nerd-o-rama]

You are so right! TIM is perfect example of how I tried to see things in the character that just aren't there. I have been waiting for TIM to be developed further because there is potential there. Oh Mookie, how can you not realize this?

Giving the Infernomancer any depth would pretty much defeat the point of his character anyway.

[Shogo]

Yeah. I'm pretty damn sure the people that Onstadt person ripped off would be able to press charges against him.

-----------------

I guess Dominic doesn't know everything for once? Because even he said that the only thing that made starstone special was how ludicrously valuable it was. (And that most people mistake it for diamond.)

But apparently it can do something crazy enough for an Archmage to lose their **** over it.

And I know Stunt is a thief, but I don't think he's ever been a particular competent one. I'm surprised he can tell the difference between starstone and diamond, let alone tell that it's pure at a glance.

Especially because the thing that would make it so valuable is it's rarity. (As I doubt most people would know whatever whats-his-face knows.)

[Coidzor]

Maybe it's enchanted. Who knows? Mookie? Maybe.

[Humbug]

And another thing, I wonder if Mookie will remember that Stunt is still a thief, that he'd attempt to keep the necklace for himself but events will force him to give it up. Or will he just immediately just do the right thing coz he's a good guy and Mookie hates moral ambiguity?

I bet the closest we'll get is Stunt thinking about it, but then decides not to keep it within the same page.

[Gez]

If Mookie remotely knew what he was writing about, Stunt the thief would consider fencing the thing; then recognize it's just far too hot to be fenced. Given that the purported value of a single stone is enough to buy out an entire town, and that apparently this necklace is enchanted to boot, the best he could expect is to get royally ripped out on the value; the worst is getting ratted out by a fence unwilling to make a deal.

He could try destroying it to get smaller shards of the stones that could be sold for a fraction of the value; but #1 if it's super-diamond it's going to be too hard for him to break the stones into smaller parts, #2 who knows what the magic imbued in the item would do to a would-be vandal, #3 he'd still get royally ripped off as the sum of the fragments would be a lot less than the intact whole.

It's like being given a diamond the size of an elephant. What do you even do with it? It's worth too much to be broken and too much to be sold. It's literally invaluable, which makes it paradoxically worthless.

[rocketpony]

IN WHICH I SAY NOTHING THAT HASN'T BEEN SAID ALREADY.

I'm sorry, there has to be a way that you can give the audience some idea of what's at stake here, without saying "I doubt you could comprehend its power, even if I told you." Like, can we use this thing to blow up Alderaan? Can we user it to heat a burrito in two minutes? Is it just really valuable and Rilian's a space-racist who doesn't want space rays to have nice things? Should we all be space-racists too?
Talking heads don't count! Don't use talking heads!

I guess the problem I'm having right now is that I don't know why we care about anything that's happening. We're told that we should care, and things are happening that are important, but nothing feels like it matters.

[Trazoi]

Meh, I prefer the symbolism behind my golden chess pawn statuette better. Why the heck did Luana have Fort Knox around her neck?

It's like being given a diamond the size of an elephant. What do you even do with it? It's worth too much to be broken and too much to be sold. It's literally invaluable, which makes it paradoxically worthless.

I give Mookie this: making the treasure a necklace - a string of starstones rather than one great big one - means it's a lot more tempting for Stunt to think whether they would miss just one stone.

I'm sorry, there has to be a way that you can give the audience some idea of what's at stake here, without saying "I doubt you could comprehend its power, even if I told you." Like, can we use this thing to blow up Alderaan? Can we user it to heat a burrito in two minutes? Is it just really valuable and Rilian's a space-racist who doesn't want space rays to have nice things? Should we all be space-racists too?
Talking heads don't count! Don't use talking heads!

I guess the problem I'm having right now is that I don't know why we care about anything that's happening. We're told that we should care, and things are happening that are important, but nothing feels like it matters.

Yeah, this is the biggest problem. When is Mookie going to get to why Rilian cares about this thing? Or is "I doubt you could comprehend its power even if I told you" all we're going to get? Frankly Rilian appears to be goading Stunt into scarpering with it.

Edit: Wow, did the Achewood guy really cancel a book and pocket the pre-order money?

[rocketpony]

Yeah, this is the biggest problem. When is Mookie going to get to why Rilian cares about this thing? Or is "I doubt you could comprehend its power even if I told you" all we're going to get? Frankly Rilian appears to be goading Stunt into scarpering with it.

Wait what if

Rilian is just handing Stunt something that he knows the thief is going to take, and scamper off with, because he knows Space Ray's gonna just descend from above and utterly wreck his day. But what this is is neither the treasure of Luana, or really even a starstone necklace, but an equivalent weight of high-yield explosive.
This is why Rilian's just throwing it at him - Stunt is insignificant enough for this plan to work perfectly. The bomb courier will distract Space Ray long enough for Rilian to do whatever he wants to do. He's gotta keep Jayden away from this, because she'd warn Stunt about the true identity of this excellent trick!

Wait no this is impossible.

[Trazoi]

Wait no this is impossible.

I agree, Rilian tricking the otherwise useless Stunt into being a tactical sacrifice is far too interesting and in-line with Rilian's prior characterisation to ever happen.

[spectralphoenix]

Presumably there's something special about starstone - I can't see there being enough demand to command those kinds of prices if its only use is jewelry and the differences between it and a normal diamond can only be detected by trained jewelers, gay people, and Stunt.

[AgentofOdd]

Presumably there's something special about starstone - I can't see there being enough demand to command those kinds of prices if its only use is jewelry and the differences between it and a normal diamond can only be detected by trained jewelers, gay people, and Stunt.

So more proof that Stunt was always secretly yearning to do the horizontal Tango with bumper?

[Lord Seth]

I've decided to reread the comic from start to finish (or from start to whenever I get so frustrated with it that I give up...I'd say it's a 50/50 chance of each), both to cover some of the years I only read parts of and also to try to remind myself that at one point I actually liked this comic.

I am enjoying the earlier strips so far (they're not perfect, but they're enjoyable--not too far though, they're just about to go and try to rescue Greg), though unfortunately, as I'm liking Sigfried as he is at this point, it just feels annoying knowing how much he gets screwed over later.

In fact, reflecting upon it, I think it was the evisceration of Sigfried that I hated the most in the comic, particularly the retcon in Shadow of Sigfried. Thing is, there have been a lot of dumb things in the comic in its later years. But none of those somehow encroached upon the earlier years that I did like. Stuff like "orc rape" might have been really, really stupid, but it didn't somehow undo arcs I enjoyed. The problem with Sigfried's retcon is that it retroactively screws up the previous arcs.

[Traab]

If Mookie remotely knew what he was writing about, Stunt the thief would consider fencing the thing; then recognize it's just far too hot to be fenced. Given that the purported value of a single stone is enough to buy out an entire town, and that apparently this necklace is enchanted to boot, the best he could expect is to get royally ripped out on the value; the worst is getting ratted out by a fence unwilling to make a deal.

He could try destroying it to get smaller shards of the stones that could be sold for a fraction of the value; but #1 if it's super-diamond it's going to be too hard for him to break the stones into smaller parts, #2 who knows what the magic imbued in the item would do to a would-be vandal, #3 he'd still get royally ripped off as the sum of the fragments would be a lot less than the intact whole.

It's like being given a diamond the size of an elephant. What do you even do with it? It's worth too much to be broken and too much to be sold. It's literally invaluable, which makes it paradoxically worthless.

Actually, you could do some things with a diamond the size of an elephant. Its basically the same thing they do with all the other supermassive diamonds. A master jeweler takes a ludicrous length of time to study it, then very carefully decides how many pieces he will break it into. As an example,

The Incomparable, in its rough state weighing 890 carats, was found in the town of Mbuji Mayi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in the 1980s. Four years were spent studying and then cutting the stone, the biggest piece of rough ultimately yielded a gem weighing 407.48 carats; it is the third largest diamond ever cut. Internally flawless clarity and fancy brownish-yellow in color, it measures 53.90 × 35.19 × 28.18 mm.

Obviously an elephant sized diamond would take way longer to decide how to break it. You could probably buy all of central europe with the estimated value of that diamond, or the collection of jewels it gets cut into. Though im sure you would have to settle for way less than what you would think its worth just because there isnt that much cash floating around. It would probably take all of central europe going in on it to buy them.

And yes, once word got out that you owned it, you would find yourself dead and robbed quite quickly. Which is honestly the real problem. An elephant sized diamond would likely end up broken into a hundred jewels that are all greatly superior in size to the top 10 list of biggest diamonds ever, and likely thousands more of smaller size, (ironically, those would be the only ones you could sell for a realistic price) You would have a target on you bigger than the uncut diamond itself. People from SPACE would be able to see the target painted on your back.

And the funny thing is, noone could really ever DO anything with them, as even the Cullinan I, the second largest diamond ever, is worth an estimated 400 million dollars. So once again, even broken up into smaller pieces, unless the diamond itself is poor quality, you wouldnt be able to sell much more than the scrap and the diamonds that are more along the lines of jewelry people other than the queen of england might wear. The big pieces, of which im sure there would be tons, would likely never sell, unless, once again, they are poor quality somehow, after all, the largest cut diamond is only estimated at 4-12 million. If they are of similar quality to Cullinan I but much larger, they would likely be priced at 1 billion+ each.

[Turcano]

Really? I'd only ever heard of him being full of himself, never actually doing something so ...criminal...

Sohmer set up a Kickstarter for the purposes of funding an animated show pilot (because you know, that really needs to exist) and put the money in his comic shop instead.

[WyvernLord]

Sohmer set up a Kickstarter for the purposes of funding an animated show pilot (because you know, that really needs to exist) and put the money in his comic shop instead.

That is... wow. Remind me to not give money to him.

[Helanna]

Sohmer set up a Kickstarter for the purposes of funding an animated show pilot (because you know, that really needs to exist) and put the money in his comic shop instead.

Is that and the Achewood book thing even legal? Doesn't Kickstarter at least have something to prevent that? Or is it a murky kind of thing where he didn't promise anyone an actual product, so he doesn't necessarily have to produce one?

Well anyways, now I have a legitimate reason to hate him.

[Trazoi]

I've decided to reread the comic from start to finish (or from start to whenever I get so frustrated with it that I give up...I'd say it's a 50/50 chance of each), both to cover some of the years I only read parts of and also to try to remind myself that at one point I actually liked this comic.

Why not check the
Annotated Dominic Deegan as an accompaniment? It goes up to about the end of Storm of Souls.

In fact, reflecting upon it, I think it was the evisceration of Sigfried that I hated the most in the comic, particularly the retcon in Shadow of Sigfried. Thing is, there have been a lot of dumb things in the comic in its later years. But none of those somehow encroached upon the earlier years that I did like. Stuff like "orc rape" might have been really, really stupid, but it didn't somehow undo arcs I enjoyed. The problem with Sigfried's retcon is that it retroactively screws up the previous arcs.

I read the archives fairly late - during the vacation arc- and what annoyed me the most was the discarding of Greg and Pam's relationship which happened shortly afterwards. That whole love story was pretty hokey in how it was presented but I still was interested in following it (maybe because Dom and Luna are so creepy together). I'd have loved to have seen an arc exploring Greg and Pam splitting up, but it was just thrown in out of nowhere and not explored at all other than "Greg sad." Mookie's got this knack of unearthing interesting story premises and then destroying them.

Sohmer set up a Kickstarter for the purposes of funding an animated show pilot (because you know, that really needs to exist) and put the money in his comic shop instead.

Oh good grief - I knew about that Kickstarter but I didn't know that's what happened to it.

[Lord Seth]

Sohmer set up a Kickstarter for the purposes of funding an animated show pilot (because you know, that really needs to exist) and put the money in his comic shop instead.

Source for this?

Why not check the
Annotated Dominic Deegan as an accompaniment? It goes up to about the end of Storm of Souls.

What purpose would that serve? I want to read the comic, not read an unfunny blog talking about the comic.

[colonelslime]

I haven't posting latetly, so let me make it up with a Sneaky Gate
Possibly also a Future Link

Really unsure what's going on now. How does Stunt even know what the scrying pool does? Why is Jayden saying Stunt's nonsense is "clearly important"? That's such clunky dialogue.

[Traab]

I haven't posting latetly, so let me make it up with a Sneaky Gate
Possibly also a Future Link

Really unsure what's going on now. How does Stunt even know what the scrying pool does? Why is Jayden saying Stunt's nonsense is "clearly important"? That's such clunky dialogue.

Yeah, the whole thing makes no sense. Ok, first off, rillian doesnt just show up to dispense random tasks of low importance, when he shows up it means big things are going on and you need to get moving. So no, I dont think stunt staring into a pool of water is important, when the dumbass had no reason to know what it was. he was probably just thinking to himself about what he should do now.

Also, "Ok, im done dying, ill go run off from the desert to the artic and go talk to my ex. No problem, im over all that now. I mean, its not like he knows you and would listen to you considering he was already willing to play a set of mind games on a friend for you. So obviously you couldnt do it instead of waiting here to tell me to do it. Or sending off a freaking message spell like dom did about his marriage to talk to milov." GAAAAH!

[Turcano]

Source for this?

Some people thought that the opening of a second store after the Kickstarter was suspicious; you would think that if he had that kind of money lying around, he would have paid the costs out of his own pocket instead of begging. That was further compounded by an apparent lack of news on the project. It could be a coincidence, but I wouldn't put it past him.

[random11]

I haven't posting latetly, so let me make it up with a Sneaky Gate
Possibly also a Future Link

Really unsure what's going on now. How does Stunt even know what the scrying pool does? Why is Jayden saying Stunt's nonsense is "clearly important"? That's such clunky dialogue.

If Jayden is the obvious choice to carry the treasure, doesn't that make her a decoy?

And how the heck can any of them move in time? If teleport is the answer, why are they needed at all?!

[Oracle_Hunter]

I haven't posting latetly, so let me make it up with a Sneaky Gate
Possibly also a Future Link

Really unsure what's going on now. How does Stunt even know what the scrying pool does? Why is Jayden saying Stunt's nonsense is "clearly important"? That's such clunky dialogue.

This has to be the most abrupt transition in DD history, right? Look at the last strip. Now look at this one. After receiving an impossible mission (does Stunt even know who Miranda is? I guess he saw her in Erossus but how the hell is he supposed to find her now?) he just spaces out and stares at the pool of water where he saw the Archray. Rillian certainly doesn't bother to tell him how to do this supposedly important task and instead tells Jayden to go the one place she is forbidden to travel and then shoos them off.

At least we still have Jayden's I Just Know two-fer of telling off Rillian about bothering Stunt and using a Laser Guided Insult to boot. That's pure Mookie all the way

[colonelslime]

At least we still have Jayden's I Just Know two-fer of telling off Rillian about bothering Stunt and using a Laser Guided Insult to boot. That's pure Mookie all the way

I want Rillian to respond with: "Listen, Priestess, I understand you fleshlings carry around a lot of mental baggage. Heck, I'm thousands of years old and I still haven't gotten rid of it all. But that pool doesn't do anything if you're not a trained seer, Stunt really doesn't need a vision so much as he needs to stop begin a self-centered prick, and a giant magic Mantaray archmage is coming to pancake us all beneath his massive bulk to get that magic necklace. So when I say we don't have time for it, believe that we don't.

[BlackDragonKing]

...That's a terrible strip, but Rilian's expression in that close-up is genius. Holy ****, that look could not have been more perfect if you hired a team of great artists.

Granted, I don't think Mookie was going for this unless he is even more of a crafty troll than I believed possible, but Rilian's look just conveys such pure, solid irritation with this "plot" as a whole and the endless piling up of delays that it's a paragraph wedged in Rilian's eye that has nothing to do with Jayden's out-of-line accusation.

"I witnessed the birth of the dragon gods. I saved the world several dozen times before any of your ancestors met. And now every damn time I rely on one of you lazy asshats to work with me on solving the pressing problem of the end of the world, you drag your feet and focus on your personal lives. When did my life become this? Why do I put up with you idiots?"

[AgentofOdd]

I haven't posting latetly, so let me make it up with a Sneaky Gate
Possibly also a Future Link

What are the odds Stunt will end up seeing Bumper taking a shower, or something equally awkward for that comedic mood whiplash Mookie just loves?

[Trazoi]

My canon is that Rilian has finally snapped and is force-feeding plot into the comic anyway he can.

Source for this?What purpose would that serve? I want to read the comic, not read an unfunny blog talking about the comic.

Half-joking, but I've also been re-reading the earlier arcs along with that blog after I found a link buried in my bookmarks while nothing has been happening in the comic. It underlines how many weird strips there are in the early arcs if you look at them one by one.

Some people thought that the opening of a second store after the Kickstarter was suspicious; you would think that if he had that kind of money lying around, he would have paid the costs out of his own pocket instead of begging. That was further compounded by an apparent lack of news on the project. It could be a coincidence, but I wouldn't put it past him.

Even if Sohmer is flushed with personal funds it could be argued a donation drive would help properly gauge the interest in the animated comic project. Until there's more evidence that funds have been diverted from the pilot project I'd hold off the pitchforks and torches for now, and stick with merely tar and feathering for creating terrible webcomics.

[Veridis Quo]

I haven't posting latetly, so let me make it up with a Sneaky Gate
Possibly also a Future Link

Really unsure what's going on now. How does Stunt even know what the scrying pool does? Why is Jayden saying Stunt's nonsense is "clearly important"? That's such clunky dialogue.

...Who is Jayden to demand anything given the situation. They were just given a mission of vast importance from someone both characters inexplicably have knowledge of. Maybe she didn't hear when Rillian mentioned an archmage flying around outside who has the potential to void their existance with a thought. Not to mention how they intend to sneak past what is literally the most powerful member of the circle of mages? What do they plan to do, teleport out? Do they have access to a stargate or something? Does teleportation even work like that in DD? Last I checked any instance of teleportation was purely by accident, but I could be wrong.

And this is really one awkward transition, what exactly does Stunt need to see? Is the revelation that Lizzy is still alive weighing so heavily on his mind that he still can't believe it? When was this conveyed to the reader?

We literally have no reason, nor the time to sit here and pay lip service to this tired plot device. Right now Jayden has to go and finally confront Milov, the plot can get to something interesting. Stunt is literally just along for the ride at this point. Jayden is/has/should be the current focus of the next events to come because;
a) She and Milov have baggage
b) There is a "delicate" political and social event that spawned from their relationship that if resolved, could put Dominic & Co. in a better position to subvert the king. (I.E. Having the spellwolves on their side.)
c) This excuse of a story hasn't really focused on her character, her redemption, or even her presence. Now we can, don't pad this out with a useless "cliffhanger" where Stunt stares in disbelief at Lizzy's being alive when it was already confirmed that she was alive.

[Zaq]

The way Rilian keeps referring to Stunt as "thief" makes me think of Link's Awakening. Remember how you could steal stuff from the shop, but if you did, your name would be changed to "THIEF" and you couldn't change it back? Yeah.

Why is Jayden bolding "you" in panel 6? Besides Mookie, I mean?

[Acanous]

TIM has less depth than a Captain Planet villain. Only in Deegan can he be a relatively interesting villain.

Spoiler

Show

Don't be Hatin', least TIM didn't make you pick what color of lasers to use to spork the Galaxy.

I thought he was pretty interesting, myself.
Edit:
Trolololololololol