Dr McNinja III: You Rad Bro?

[Gez]

If you allow me some pedantry, the alt-text here only says "26p71". The "roll for concentration" thing is in the title text.

<img title="Roll for concentration versus raptor claws and also raptor mouth." alt="26p71" src="http://drmcninja.com/comics/2013-11-25-26p71.jpg" style="width: 792px; height: 1152px;">

Calling it "flavor text" avoids using technical jargon and therefore is okay in any case. (Until the W3C approves a "flavor" attribute for img tags.)

Some webcomics (notably Oglaf) actually have both an alt-text and a title-text, saying different things, so you'll get a different flavor text depending on which browser you use. (Or you can use a plugin that makes it so that both are displayed.)

[Tebryn]

Flavor text, alt text: different words, same difference

I wasn't correcting you? I was agreeing with you?

[Muenster Man]

I wasn't correcting you? I was agreeing with you?

Whoops, read that wrong

[ThirdEmperor]

Clearly, Old Mcninja is going to leap through the portal and end up teaching his ancestors the ninja arts in the first place.


Either that or Yoshi leaps in and becomes the SIRE OF ALL DINOSAURS.

[Anteros]

I'm thinking more like Rad goes through time and Mcninja enlists Chuck to time travel and stop him.

[Scowling Dragon]

Doesn't time travel create alternate dimensions? Let King Rad jump. It won't matter.

[Giggling Ghast]

Prediction:

Spoiler

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I have a feeling that Skeleton Dude is going to make a sudden appearance and transport Ron Wizard to the pain dimension for leeching mana from his realm without permission.

[AstralFire]

I'm thinking more like Rad goes through time and Mcninja enlists Chuck to time travel and stop him.

Spoiler

Show

CHARLES "CHUCK" GOODRICH

THE MARTYR

[sihnfahl]

Doesn't time travel create alternate dimensions? Let King Rad jump. It won't matter.

Yes. Here.

I think the good Doc wants to stop King Radical in this now, so there is no future or possibilities where KR's antics mess with things.

[Kornaki]

I've learned so much! I can do better!

Unfortunately, the lesson he failed to learn is that time portals are not the solution.

[Anteros]

But it can't just be alternate dimensions, or Sparklelord wouldn't have been able to get stuck in a loop of himself.

Unless he's getting stuck in a loop in an alternate dimension each time where everything always plays out exactly the same...but I don't think that's what's implied. It's possible that Radical's version of time travel works differently than Chuck's.

[Scowling Dragon]

I think meddling with dimensions on a large scale may resonate on all dimensional levels.

[Ionathus]

Prediction: Sparklelord comes back and they all have to band together to stop him.

I mean, come on. Why else would Chris include the prequel at the start of this story, as well as that title text of "no way he can escape probably."? I understand sometimes he's flippant, but then again he also said "all their heads grow back in the next story," and I didn't expect that to come to anything either.

I fully expect that we have not seen the end of a certain demonic unicorn.

[Anteros]

Prediction: Sparklelord comes back and they all have to band together to stop him.

I mean, come on. Why else would Chris include the prequel at the start of this story, as well as that title text of "no way he can escape probably."? I understand sometimes he's flippant, but then again he also said "all their heads grow back in the next story," and I didn't expect that to come to anything either.

I fully expect that we have not seen the end of a certain demonic unicorn.

At this point I don't think Doc would team up with Radical to stop him. Before he just suspected that Radical was up to something. Now, Radical has proven himself to be a mass murdering psychopath who wants to destroy the entire world as Doc knows it. What's the worst thing Sparkles has done? Mind controlled Doc into killing one guy? He's small fry compared to Radical's level of destruction.

[Ionathus]

Yeah, but we're told that he's the sole reason that the radical lands are dying. He was so powerful that he couldn't maintain his form in Doc's universe.

I do get what you're saying about teaming up, though. They won't be the best of pals. But I think Radical may be a reasonable man, just also a fantastically horrifying racist (radical-ist? Heh. Pun not intended). So if Sparkles shows up again, I do think that both of them would put all effort into stopping him, instead of sabotaging each other's attacks or something.

I mean, isn't that what usually happens when the evil dude who wants to rule the world unleashes the evil supernatural dude who wants to destroy it? The comparatively "less evil" guy has every reason to fight. Can't rule what doesn't exist.

[Kornaki]

He wanted to destroy the Radical Lands... do we even really know what Sparklelord's overall goal was in Dr. McNinja land? Maybe he just wanted to kill King Radical really badly, and then he would have mellowed out and been a super sweet ride.

[Flickerdart]

He wanted to destroy the Radical Lands... do we even really know what Sparklelord's overall goal was in Dr. McNinja land? Maybe he just wanted to kill King Radical really badly, and then he would have mellowed out and been a super sweet ride.

Sparklelord wasn't in Cumberland on his own accord; Radical who cast him out of the radical lands. So I don't think he really had a goal beyond revenge.

[Anteros]

Plus, it seems that Radical invaded his home, and used magic on him in the first place to transform him against his will. http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/26p6/

I'm not convinced team Radical were the good guys even in that engagement.

[Ionathus]

Plus, it seems that Radical invaded his home, and used magic on him in the first place to transform him against his will. http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/26p6/

I'm not convinced team Radical were the good guys even in that engagement.

I agree, neither of the sides are particularly good. But it seems to me that Sparklelord just wants to kill, kill, kill. Nothing we've seen about him (that hasn't come from his own testimony, which we know we can't trust) suggests he's interested in anything aside from destruction. Of course, our only other source is, admittedly, King Radical, whom we also know we can't trust. But he does also have more precedence for being truthful.

I don't want either one, but if I had to pick between Radical's vision for the world vs. Sparklelord's, I'd have to pick Radical.

That's the conclusion I've arrived at from the evidence we've been given so far, and I'll admit that it's not much to go on: if we get more characterization/backstory/justification for Sparkle's actions, I'd be ready to change my viewpoint.

[slayerx]

Prediction: Sparklelord comes back and they all have to band together to stop him.

I mean, come on. Why else would Chris include the prequel at the start of this story, as well as that title text of "no way he can escape probably."? I understand sometimes he's flippant, but then again he also said "all their heads grow back in the next story," and I didn't expect that to come to anything either.

I fully expect that we have not seen the end of a certain demonic unicorn.

I can see it... namely i'm thinking that messing with the portal will be what allows Sparklelord to escape the time loop, and with all the radical changes King Radical has made, the world will now be able to comprehend his unicron splendor, so he's not a motorcycle anymore.

[Kornaki]

I can see it... namely i'm thinking that messing with the portal will be what allows Sparklelord to escape the time loop, and with all the radical changes King Radical has made, the world will not be able to comprehend his unicron splendor, so he's not a motorcycle anymore.

I like this theory a lot.

[Anteros]

Well the whole "team up with your enemy to stop a greater evil" works better in kids cartoons when your enemy isn't a genocidal maniac intent on destroying the entire world as you know it. I don't doubt Doc would oppose Sparkle...I just don't think he'd be willing to team up with Radical to do it.

[NEO|Phyte]

And I'm pretty sure we've now got our Chuck that ends up in the past and gets killed by King Radical. Can't say for certain because the portal is making everything look purple, so we can't tell what color the suit actually is.

[Starbuck_II]

Well the whole "team up with your enemy to stop a greater evil" works better in kids cartoons when your enemy isn't a genocidal maniac intent on destroying the entire world as you know it. I don't doubt Doc would oppose Sparkle...I just don't think he'd be willing to team up with Radical to do it.

No, it works as long as the greater threat is intent to destroy more than the world. Like Galactus: although not exactly evil, just bout fits.

[Ionathus]

Well the whole "team up with your enemy to stop a greater evil" works better in kids cartoons when your enemy isn't a genocidal maniac intent on destroying the entire world as you know it. I don't doubt Doc would oppose Sparkle...I just don't think he'd be willing to team up with Radical to do it.

But Doc teamed up with Future King Radical to fight the dinos. I suppose you could argue that this was before Doc figured out Radical's actual, brutally awful and evil plan. But I still think it proves that they would team up to prevent a future that neither one wants, if grudgingly.

Of course, I'm pretty sure this is all rendered moot because, as NEO said, I'm also pretty certain that this is the Chuck who will go back to fight Radical and die.

Which is sad. Great for Chuck's development, and we'll always remember him as a true hero, but I still liked the guy.

Then again, the climax of this story could still be on its way.

[Giggling Ghast]

Sparklelord wasn't in Cumberland on his own accord; Radical who cast him out of the radical lands. So I don't think he really had a goal beyond revenge.

Considering he went on a "spree of destruction" (as Gordito put it) before meeting up with Doc and then murdered his old rider for basically no reason, I think Sparklelord was simply a destructive force of evil. That he also wanted revenge on King Radical didn't make him any less evil.

[Coidzor]

He was a mad, bad horse that was dangerous to know and needed to be put down.

[Anteros]

He was a mad, bad horse that was dangerous to know and needed to be put down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN2U5wkhRWc

[Ionathus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN2U5wkhRWc

I made a guess. I was not disappointed.

[Flickerdart]

Considering he went on a "spree of destruction" (as Gordito put it) before meeting up with Doc and then murdered his old rider for basically no reason, I think Sparklelord was simply a destructive force of evil. That he also wanted revenge on King Radical didn't make him any less evil.

I'm not saying he wasn't evil. I'm just saying that revenge on Radical is the only coherent motivation he has.