OOTS #852 - The Discussion Thread

[Yendor]

So Old Man Tarquin keeps his secret for another strip.

[Inkling]

"You wanted to know what was under my mask? You could have just asked, you know. Underneath my mask is...

ANOTHER MASK! ISN'T THAT NEAT?!?!"

[KoboldRevenge]

So uh I don't really see why he's hiding his identity. Everyone already knows he is a bad guy. It's not going to be some big reveal when he does get unmasked.

Is it much of a tactical advantage for someone not to know your name? Course he could not want to be associated with the Linear Guild.

[Kaulguard]

Bwahahaha! Nope! Nice hard LOL. Well played, sir.

[t209]

By that point, they know that he's not thog (skin color exposed even with Balaclava) but will they know that it's Tarquin.

[Mantine]

Alright, I always admit when I'm had.
And I was.

Also, I've decided that Tarquin should be the main villain of this story.

[Enero Irontoad]

Excellent strip. First, I liked 'regenerationating' and Belkar alluding to Roy stabbing Thog with an arrow. Roy shows how he's a smart and perceptive fighter again, true to his character. Then Tarquin, that schemer, has a countermeasure.

So, the Order of the Stick knows it's not Thog now, but Tarquin's identity has not been revealed to them. Roy is on the ground, he and Belkar have taken considerable damage, Durkon's been thrown away, and Tarquin's armor is healing him. On top of that, they still haven't even started fighting the rest of the Linear Guild. Things are not looking good for the Order.

[LordVader]

Tarquin continues to be awesome. Easily the best character in the comic at this point. Kudos, Rich; you somehow manage to make him continuously even better than before.

And hey, he's still kicking the crap out of the Order 1v5! Allow me to once again say "told you so".

[Peelee]

As much as I've disliked Tarquin so far, this fight is starting to me me a fan. The "Nope!" followed by his next line made me laugh out loud, wgich is hard to do and very enjoyable! I love this comic so much.

[t209]

As much as I've disliked Tarquin so far, this fight is starting to me me a fan. The "Nope!" followed by his next line made me laugh out loud, wgich is hard to do and very enjoyable! I love this comic so much.

How many of you start to think him as TF2 engineer's Nope?
P.S- It's 25th stripversary (Made by me) of Thanh's death.

[Enero Irontoad]

So uh I don't really see why he's hiding his identity. Everyone already knows he is a bad guy. It's not going to be some big reveal when he does get unmasked.

Is it much of a tactical advantage for someone not to know your name? Course he could not want to be associated with the Linear Guild.

Yeah, that last thing you said. The Order may know he's Evil, but Elan thinks he's helping them against Nale.

[Steward]

Tarquin won't be laughing so much once Thog shows up and pastes him for his offensively speciest 'greenface' portrayal. Seriously though, I think Tarquin is just trolling now.

[Tohron]

Well, look on the bright side - Roy did prove it wasn't Thog!

[Gift Jeraff]

I'm guessing he expects the OOTS to come back to his empire for one reason or another, and thus by hiding his allegiance with Nale he can continue "helping" the OOTS, thereby pushing both parties in the direction he wants them to go.

It'd be a good scheme if he wasn't competing with much more powerful puppetmasters that he's not even aware of.

[Ridureyu]

Isn't that what Cobra Commander canonically does?

[Stabbey]

I figured that "Thog's" strangely proficient performance in the last strip would give the game away, and yep, Roy spotted it. The Order is still seriously outmatched, thought.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Hmm... A thought just popped in my head...

Spoiler

Show

What if that's NOT Tarquin under the mask? I really don't get Tarquin's plan here, and why fight the OotS before they have the MacGuffin?

What is Tarquin's REAL plan?

Nah, probably not, but think about it...

[MeanMrsMustard]

Well played, Giant. Well played.
Seriously, though. I already love Tarquin, but this just made him shoot up to my favorite non-V character.
And "Nope!" was definitely hilarious.

[snikrept]

How long till they rip the mask off...

"... its Old Mister Tarquin!"

"And I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you MEDDLING KIDS"

[rbetieh]

Ah the good old mask-under-mask gag, this one always cracks me up when I see it. My favorite is still the Kakashi gag in Naruto, but adding the Nope! was certainly a nice touch. Looks like Tarquins Int is not objectively higher than Roys....

[Icedaemon]

With enough prep-time and the right gear...

Where have I encountered that line before?

[Morgan Wick]

It seems like Tarquin is giving up on pretending to be Thog by the last panel.

That makes me wonder if the next strip will start with Elan recognizing the voice.

[Concept]

OMG - That was so worth no plot progression. Although they should be able to figure it out from the "so worth it" line, given that Elan and Tarquin both say that any chance they get, as well as his unique combination of silliness and total domination.

[dakameleon]

Bwahahaha love it

Question though: I'd love to use that panel where the Nope mask is revealed elsewhere on the net. What's the policy around here? Fair use, or Rich's copyright/intellectual property and therefore verboten?

[Deliverance]

That was silly and out of character for Tarquin. No more silliness from him, please, it diminishes the character.

[Forikroder]

...and there was a double helping of "gotcha" in that Roy thought he had a moment of triumph; ripping the helmet off a guy's head is a pretty good feat (...or action, or special, or whatever ... it's cool!)

So Roy's all like "Hey, I figured this one out with my intelligence AND I'm ripping the helmet off this guy's head, how cool is that?" ... but it comes to nothing because Tarquin showed he was expecting it!

Then, for the final beat, casually catching the helmet after he knocks Roy down. MAGNIFICENT!

Tarquin so out-powers them that he's just playing with them like a cat with mice.

"I should have known knowing something would never work out!" ... is another T-shirt worthy line!

tarquin is not outpowering them at all, he managed to knock Roy out after Roy did him a favour of being completely open, tarquins didnt do anythins extra special in this comic that deserves to be ood over aside from having the will save to manage to wear a mask for two whole days in the desert with a helmet over it

and i wonder if theyve been legit fighting for an hour, if its some other item or if Rich is fudging the rules a bit again

Tarquin continues to be awesome. Easily the best character in the comic at this point. Kudos, Rich; you somehow manage to make him continuously even better than before.

And hey, he's still kicking the crap out of the Order 1v5! Allow me to once again say "told you so".

allow me to say your still nowhere close to right

he hasnt even made Belkar faint none of them look like there in any serious danger of going down at all Roy took alot more much bigger hits from Thog and he was still able to walk away on his own fine

the problem people have is they come into this fight assuming that Tarquin is some supremem badass whos higher level then the order by far and taking everything as evidence to support there theory instead of actually looking at the comic and realising weve only seen one and a half round of combat so we know literally nothing about how well the fight is going

[wizuriel]

okay that was awesome

[RMS Oceanic]

That was silly and out of character for Tarquin. No more silliness from him, please, it diminishes the character.

How was it out of character? I could totally see him subvert a dramatic unmasking scene?

[Sorator]

Bahahaha. That was good. Though I wonder if he really thinks he can get through this fight without being recognized - if so, then there's several reasons he could want to hide his true identity, but if not, it seems rather pointless beyond a quick laugh.

However, when your opponent is pulling dangerous maneuvers like ripping off your helmet, it does give you a certain tactical advantage... and that may well be his reason for doing this (in addition to teh lulz, of course, and the opportunities it keeps available should he indeed remain unmasked for the duration of this battle).

[Forikroder]

Bahahaha. That was good. Though I wonder if he really thinks he can get through this fight without being recognized - if so, then there's several reasons he could want to hide his true identity, but if not, it seems rather pointless beyond a quick laugh.

However, when your opponent is pulling dangerous maneuvers like ripping off your helmet, it does give you a certain tactical advantage... and that may well be his reason for doing this (in addition to teh lulz, of course, and the opportunities it keeps available should he indeed remain unmasked for the duration of this battle).

hes just hiding his identity because he has no reason not to, he may look like a fool pretending to be Thog and wearing that mask but its better to look the fool than be one, who knows what you knows is as important as knowing it and making them have no idea who he is or who Nales new divine spellcaster is is huge for Tarquin

for all the Order knows team evil busted Nale out and its Redcloak and Xykon floating up there and there fighting some super Zombie Xykon made