OOTS #387 - The Discussion Thread

[keri]

about the *ping!*...

:) elan pinged in the very first episode when he got more skill points :)

hopefully, i'm not repeating anyone...

[Silver]

If it helps, Thog *might* have been singing Polka Power instead, which contains that line. To this day I'm not sure I've actually heard the original song, so I automatically heard Weird Al rather than the Spice Girls.

Depending on your tastes, you may or may not find that to be an improvement.

[baerdith]

Go Elan! Go Elan!

And Thog? Who would have ever thought I'd LIKE Thog as much as I like Elan!?!

[Draz74]

Hmmm ... lots of comments.

What's the blue glow around Elan's hand in the bottom left panel? For a while I was thinking it was the remains of a Glibness spell, which would explain the Bluffing ability in full. But it's probably just him dismissing Disguise Self.

Weird, I always thought Haley was the member of the team with an impressive amount of ranks in Bluff. Not that Elan couldn't get a decent Bluff check anyway, with his Charisma ... but a string of godly bluffs like this? I think Glibness would be more believable. But I've not seen him do any Bluffs before that I couldn't believe were untrained checks.

With nothing to stop spellcasting in their jail, and weak enough bars for a barbarian to tear down (admittedly not saying much), and guards this dumb ... what kind of crime rate does Cliffport have? Real criminals who are at least, like, level 8 should be able to escape as a routine. I mean, it took Elan and Thog 40 minutes. Haley would probably be even faster. I can't imagine Leeky will be stuck inside more than 2 weeks.

Spice Girl songs ... subtle Trading Spaces parody ... classy!

Nice to see Elan does get at least a bit smarter when he has Haley to motivate him. I'd say +4 scores, which would cause a +2 circumstance bonus to his score mods.

Thog's "lost in the witch's forest" comment shows Thog has a natural understanding of plots and stories ... a.k.a. potential to be a bard ... a.k.a. support for my "Thog actually has high Charisma" theory.

"My Haley" ... Elan seems to be pretty confident that Haley thinks of him a certain way. It makes me think he actually has known for a while that Haley likes him. I think he's known for a while, but he wasn't sure (until he was locked in jail) that he returned her interest. He's been playing dumb, pretending to be oblivious to Haley's feelings while he tried to make up his mind. In fact, he might have acted more dumb than he is even in non-romance-instances, just to keep the act up. (All of this is a frighteningly realistic possibility -- all too close to how us guys act in real life sometimes . Not that guys aren't ever truly oblivious. Elan probably had no idea about Haley's interest until the New Year's date.)

How does Thog get such good lines? Like the last panel? It might be Thog's 3rd-best line yet, after "Majesty of the Gumdrop Mountains" and "Thog reluctantly forced to agree."

Whoever said this is the longest strip ever ... no. Check out #200. Wow, that was epic.

[Gandal]

about the *ping!*...

:) elan pinged in the very first episode when he got more skill points :)

hopefully, i'm not repeating anyone...

He dinged this time.

[smellie_hippie]

Tee hee hee! Two strips on this thread with obscure music references. I think the Giant has been shopping on Amazon.Com... (and implanting dreadful music in my head )

Very funny comic! Love the Hulk reference, everything! I don't check every 20 minutes, so I didn't notice the delay.

[Ulicus]

Oh my. I've been gone from the boards for a long while, though I've been keeping up with the strip and this was the first one in a long time that has actually made me howl.

Excellent work Giant.

"Prison changed thog quickly" - Classic.

I hope we get to see the crazy three and a half day long adventure of Elan and Thog... you could squeeze many strips out of that I think. (And, you know, they're my favourite characters)

[tgva8889]

So many people love Thog and Elan, Rich should just spend the next week posting only Thog and Elan-related comics. I mean, we would make so many people happy. As for all you people who hate Thog and Elan...you should go, I don't know, read another webcomic or something for a week. Come back later.

This is the best webcomic that I read. And this was an awesome comic. I said that already. Still:

thog smash puny prison!

Gotta love the Hulk AND cast page reference.

[knownaspirate]

If Thog got that mad over punching a clown, just imagine what he would have been like if Elan claimed the bars had kicked a puppy!

OMGZ! Somebody would haved died!!
thog like puppies

[MReav]

Would there even be a Cliffport left after that happened?

If he said in such a way that Cliffport was even remotely responsible... then no.

Otherwise, thog would probably forget about it after obliterating the puppy victimizing bars.

[Bilbo27]

Gotta love that comic relief. Elan actually used his brains, and it WORKED!!!

[krossbow]

Hey, anyone think that the giant will update before midnight tonight like normal, or end up being behind all week due to the earlier setback?

I can't wait to see how this continues!

[Tobimaro]

My two cp to the converstion.

I enjoyed that Elan was able to get Thog to get them both out of jail. And some on the list thought that Bards were worthless...(or, at least thought that Elan was worthless.)

I suspect that the thought that Haley was in danger due to Nale is getting Elan to put his life together and give him a sense of purpose. It also might get him to take either Duellist or (Honorable) Dread Pirate at his next level. Or maybe he just needs to focus on a goal.

I too liked all of the jokes in here, including the Spice Girls, reference to Trading Spaces, Hulk, and to all of the movies in which two people who would never want to be together come together to have a lot of fun and hijinks (see Planes, Trains, and Automobiles as an example).

[tadfoal]

:D

Bestest comic EVAR!

And i find it's updated on my birthday too :) You're the best Giant! Best birthday prezzie i've gotten so far!

[Jazzvader]

Well, now we know Thog's alignment--if he's the opposite of Elan, who we know to be Chaotic good, then Thog is Lawful Evil.

He is not the opposite of Elan he is Roy's Opposite so he is Chaotic Evil they are just different alignments.

[rellyjean]

Really, Thog has by far the best lines in this series.

He's tied with Xykon, IMHO.

(no way Thog or Sabine are gonna fight against Nale here)

Spoiler

Show

Isn't that why she showed up? To jam a boot up his ... uh, rear? Sabine vs. Nale - angry succubus wench on a rampage - could cause enough confusion for Elan and Haley to book it.

's "And then they punched a clown" made me laugh so hard that I almost dropped my laptop. WIN.

I nearly started a thread here just called WIN which was going to be about how WIN this entire comic was, but I figured that was Very Bad and restrained myself. There were offhand jokes and big shiny puns and throwaways and homages and just about anything you'd want, and also real sympathy for Elan and watching him grow into a real actual hero who's actively solving his problems and I am dying here from WIN.

This comic is awesome in comic form. Like, pure awesome. Essence of awesome. Awesome with all the inactive ingredients removed, leaving the active ingredient of win.

OR THAT, YES. That is scarily similar to what I was going to say. Do I know you? ... ARE YOU ME? *eerie music*

(Does anyone understand that song?)

Sure!

If you would like to be my significant other, you need to also have intimate relations with all of my friends. Sex and friendship both last an infinite amount of time. Now, I will tell you what I really want, via some playful banter: I would particularly like to zig-a-zig-ahh. Also, slam your body down and wind it around in a clockwise motion; that's essential.

oops! thog do it again, thog play with your heart ...

NO FAIR MAKING ME SPIT LIQUID ALL OVER MY KEYBOARD.

By the way... how did Thog's pants turn purple?

That's a rare side-effect of hulking out. The hormones secreted turn your skin dark green - in 's case, a darker green - but also react badly with the chemicals in your clothing, leaving a plum-colored stain behind. Modern technology has employed this hormone in dye packs at banks in order to identify robbers. No, really! I read it, uh, somewhere online... yeah, that's the ticket ...

[Mathias_Tanavar]

No one seems to have noticed... but the candle instead of lamp ha happened before... when Elan comes up with the Naked Invisable Idea...

I can't remeber the number because I'm such a newb...

[erewhon]

This update was MUCH AWESOME. Thank you, Giant. :)

Spoiler

Show

Here's a thought: Thog has the Ruinous Rage feat. Before he raged, he was barely denting those bars, after, he tore out the freakin' WALL. Sure Elan helped, but come on.

This is also signicant because Ruinous Rage leads toward Frenzied Berzerker! Eeek! You think thog scary now?

Just a thought.

[Max_Sinister]

Note the running gag: Elan casting an illusion never works.

[Jefepato]

Weird, I always thought Haley was the member of the team with an impressive amount of ranks in Bluff. Not that Elan couldn't get a decent Bluff check anyway, with his Charisma ... but a string of godly bluffs like this? I think Glibness would be more believable. But I've not seen him do any Bluffs before that I couldn't believe were untrained checks.

Just because we haven't seen him pull off any uber-Bluffs before doesn't mean he hasn't had the skill. And why wouldn't he? Pretty much every bard in the history of D&D has maxed Bluff.

"My Haley" ... Elan seems to be pretty confident that Haley thinks of him a certain way.

I'm pretty sure it's the other way around.

[Aerysil]

Actually, one of Elan's illusions did work, although I can't be tasked at the moment to find the comic. He made himself appear as an ogre and got another ogre to leave its guard post. His short-lived moment was brought back to the mundane by slipping into a cave pool, however.

[skinkatlarge]

Actually, one of Elan's illusions did work, although I can't be tasked at the moment to find the comic. He made himself appear as an ogre and got another ogre to leave its guard post. His short-lived moment was brought back to the mundane by slipping into a cave pool, however.

That was Disguise Self. But whenever he uses Silent Images of hot chicks of the appropriate species, it never works. The targets are all happily married, or gay, or think pretty girls are icky and have girl cooties (though he did get some use out of that last one).

[Zeb The Troll]

By the way, if Elan wants one of his girl illusions to work for a change, I can't think of a better target than the desperate-dater Pompey...

Spoiler

Show

This would be the time that he decides to try something else because "that illusion never works".

Note the running gag: Elan casting an illusion never works.

Au contrair, that illusion never works.

Actually, one of Elan's illusions did work, although I can't be tasked at the moment to find the comic. He made himself appear as an ogre and got another ogre to leave its guard post. His short-lived moment was brought back to the mundane by slipping into a cave pool, however.

There, actually, was also the time when he cast the illusion that "never works" on Thog and it worked, although maybe not quite as planned. And let us not forget the Disguise Self illusion that worked just fine in this strip.

[unstattedCommoner]

oops! thog do it again, thog play with your heart ...

NO FAIR MAKING ME SPIT LIQUID ALL OVER MY KEYBOARD.

We aim to please. We don't have the necessary weapon proficiency, but we aim nevertheless.

nobody sees the show/until thog's heart say so/if it's not you, oh no/thog don't do that.

[Yorkiebar]

I want to know how Nale got Thog loyal enough in the first place to go into a rage at the thought of Nale being lost?

[Acksiom]

Face in hands, laughing helplessly.

That strip was more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Heretical monkeys.

Drunken heretical monkeys.

Rich, you don't just merely rule. You REIGN.

[Martichoras]

: prison changed thog.
: We were only in there 40 minutes.
: prison changed thog quickly.

That got a chuckle out of me, too, which is high praise - I rarely laugh out loud, I tend to think "that is hilarious", and smile. I love the entire strip Comic book references don't do much for me, but they don't detract from my enjoyment of the strip either.

[divine]

Thog + Elan = genius.. one of my fav's <3

[Amon Star]

I wonder if this thread will make it to 500 posts?

I even tried singing Spice Girls songs if they didn't let me free.

OMG -- proof positive that is more civilized than !

HAY! I like the Spice Girls!

loves Clowns, right? So what about this:

Spoiler

Show

has shown Banjo to and now worships Banjo!

That would be scary, but which version?

Spoiler

Show

I would say Orthodox would be best for

I wonder if, or when, Belkar uses his Rage ability, if his skin will turn grey? (Yes, the Hulk joke probably only applies to but I'd find it funny if was applied to the ability.)

Raged in this one; http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0176.html It probably was a one off for

I want to know how Nale got Thog loyal enough in the first place to go into a rage at the thought of Nale being lost?

By letting him break stuff, lots of fudge ripples and an extra hour past bedtime on weekends. even gave a puppy; http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0142.html

[B9anders]

Sure!

If you would like to be my significant other, you need to also have intimate relations with all of my friends. Sex and friendship both last an infinite amount of time. Now, I will tell you what I really want, via some playful banter: I would particularly like to zig-a-zig-ahh. Also, slam your body down and wind it around in a clockwise motion; that's essential.