Cucumber Quest: Basically if Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door was a comic

[Yuki Akuma]

So... is Peridot joining the party now?

[Domochevsky]

So... is Peridot joining the party now?

I'm having my doubts. Odds are she'll return to the queen, vowing to forget about the incident with the heroes this time. She hasn't broken ties with her, after all.

[-D-]

Interesting. Rosemaster turned out to be lot more nicer than it seemed, although she did make Almond attempt to kill Carrot.

Still, she kinda knew Nightmare Knight would intervene.

I still like Glitchmaster best, she (it? they?) knows game is rigged and I'm gonna bet she is willing to help heroes attack Nightmare Knight.

[Nettlekid]

It seems like a few of the Disaster Masters have an idea of what's going on. Rosemaster said something a bit like that in her recent flashback dialogue with Glitchmaster, that it's obvious that there's been a force acting against them. Glitchmaster of course was suspicious enough to set up a recording station to catch the Nightmare Knight in action. And Noisemaster seemed to be half expecting what happened with his Noise Blaster. When the Nightmare Knight spoke with him he was all goofy, and then the moment he left Noisemaster became sullen and bitter. He didn't seem surprised that his Noise Blaster was blocked, just disappointed.

What I'd kind of like to know is why Glitchmaster impersonated the Nightmare Knight on the ride over, when Cosmo stole Caboodle's spaceship. Cosmo knew it was Glitchmaster, he was saying Glitchmaster's name as he was beamed away. Since Glitchmaster (as the Nightmare Knight) was saying the Disaster Masters were just pawns, is it trying to sow discord between the Nightmare Knight and the Disaster Masters, to be passed on by Cucumber and co?

EDIT: Or actually, looking at the last page 519, maybe Glitchmaster just wants to encourage the heroes to fight harder and take out the Nightmare Knight for good.

[smuchmuch]

What I'd kind of like to know is why Glitchmaster impersonated the Nightmare Knight on the ride over, when Cosmo stole Caboodle's spaceship.

I'm pretty sure this is part of Glitchmaster plan to get rid of the Nightmare Knight.

Basicaly as I see it (and a lot of this chapter pretty much confirmed it, I think)

How the cycle came to be ? Is the finality of the system to hold the disasters master in an repeated loop of defeat and rebirth (with the side benefit that the disastr Master aren't the only one getting (not so) subtly isupressed by the Nightmare knight, so is the would be conqueror, intimidated into innaction as they start figuring something's wrong, stuck in their castle wating for a conquest that is rigged to fail )) or is that jsut a happy side effect of trying to ward off something worst ? We don't know yet.

What matters is that Noisemaster got a little more clever and/or lucky and/or quicker than usual and forced Knightmare knight to act in the open for once. Glitmaster saw that. Now she knows and she wants to be free of the cycle.
She also know she isn't strong enough to take on the nightmare knight heads on. (Well she might have a shot with the crocus but that's a no go now). So who can ?
Well how about the people the game is rigged in favor off ? But if they are left to their own devices, there's a risk they'll continue the cycle as usual, which is not what she wants.

So that's how this episode in the saucer fits, as part of her plan to turn the heroes to atualy kill or at least remove permanently the nightmare knight.

By disguising herself into the knightmare knight and implying he has a sinister plan to Anihillate dreamside (no less !) she give them a sense of urgency, thus incentive to bypass the whole "fight and bin all the disaster master" time consuming process and a reason to want him dead for good and not just sealed.

Putting them in a nearly but not quite deadly trap situation was a win-win. If they died, well maybe the cycle would be broken by default for all she knew... at worst she can try again with the next ones. If they live (as she suspected they would), they are on their way to and they will never trust him again, thus making sure they would be unlikely to talk to him and figure there's more to the situaton. (And she right suceeded at it)

[Domochevsky]

...
If they live (as she suspected they would), they are on their way to and they will never trust him again, thus making sure they would be unlikely to talk to him and figure there's more to the situaton. (And she right suceeded at it)

Which, funnily enough, seems to be exactly the problem that perpetuates the cycle. Self-fullfilling.

[smuchmuch]

Heroes, man, so predictable. This ain't new.

To be fair, I'm putting this right on NK shoulder, I mean maybe if he didn't wait for the last moment or actualy finished his explanation rather than going 'this was a mistake' half way like an awkard lovestruck teen trying to get a crush out, maybe some actual communication could get done.

[The Vagabond]

Holy **** guys the current page.

This is the most hilarious page I have ever seen!

[GAAD]

Do you, Peridot, take this woman, Elan's Mother

Oh wait no curry wrong comic

[memnarch]

Click.

[Mr.Sandman]

Thank you, todays comic. I needed a good laugh.

[AdmiralCheez]

Okay, that was great. I wonder what he was making?

[Qwertystop]

Taking bets now on the outcome of this event:

Will Peridot react first by:
Being loudly baffled?
Quietly, cautiously curious?
Assert that this must be a dream, then go back to bed?
Faint or be knocked out, wake up in bed, rationalize it as a dream?

Will there Knight make the first move:
As a confession?
Insisting that she never speak of this, it never happened?
Same as above, but politely?
Leave with no explanation?
Pretend to be someone else in a costume?
Actually be someone else in a costume?

[Domochevsky]

Well... I guess at least his cookies are pretty good?

I'm liking that expression of hers in the last two panels. Very much "Uh-huh."
(So he does his baking when everyone else is asleep... I wonder if he makes them for himself usually.)

[super dark33]

Dreamside's 1# Dad

[AdmiralCheez]

The way things have been going, I wouldn't be surprised if Nightmare Knight lets slip that he's a huge fan of the show.

[Kantaki]

This is a great comic.

Heroes that are heroic, villains that... aren't, a world that is both really dark and incredible cute, it has everything.

Is there even a character so far that really qualifies as evil? Tomato is a jerk and I don't trust the Oracle as far as Cucumber can throw her, but otherwise?
I mean right now we focus on Peridot's relationship with Almond* and the Nightmare Knight's hobbies. They even watch a Cartoon together.
If this keeps up the villains won't be the final boss.

I almost hope this story gets a happy end, but as long as some characters (like Almond) want to keep fighting I fear this will only end in tears and in a contiuation of the cycle.

*Was this dream a surprise for anyone? I wish them the best.

[Syldar]

This is a great comic.

Heroes that are heroic, villains that... aren't, a world that is both really dark and incredible cute, it has everything.

Is there even a character so far that really qualifies as evil? Tomato is a jerk and I don't trust the Oracle as far as Cucumber can throw her, but otherwise?
I mean right now we focus on Peridot's relationship with Almond* and the Nightmare Knight's hobbies. They even watch a Cartoon together.
If this keeps up the villains won't be the final boss.

I almost hope this story gets a happy end, but as long as some characters (like Almond) want to keep fighting I fear this will only end in tears and in a contiuation of the cycle.

*Was this dream a surprise for anyone? I wish them the best.

A character that qualifies as evil? Glitchmaster comes to mindddddddghjngyrhkvkhtsxhutjezhahahahahaha......

[-D-]

This is a great comic.

Heroes that are heroic, villains that... aren't, a world that is both really dark and incredible cute.

Incredibly Dark? Oh wow, there was Rosemaster and that was a one time thing.

Unsounded is incredibly cute and incredibly dark. Cucu is sweet as sugar with dark tones. It's less dark than a usual Powerpuff Girls episode.

[Kantaki]

Incredibly Dark? Oh wow, there was Rosemaster and that was a one time thing.

Unsounded is incredibly cute and incredibly dark. Cucu is sweet as sugar with dark tones. It's less dark than a usual Powerpuff Girls episode.

A world that is trapped in a eternal, vicious cycle of a war between good and evil is something I would call dark, yes.
Sure, it all looks very nice, but considering this is has happened a hundred times now - and that the Oracle keeps this secret - and unless Cuco and the Nightmare Knight somehow manage to break the cycle it will only happen again I would say that’s only the surface.
And I'm not sure how likely a different outcome is after the last chapter.

Almond’s attack sure didn't help Cucumber’ attempt to talk with the Nightmare Knight and the Knight didn't react very well to the fact that our heroes collect (and use) the Disaster Stones.

Not to mention that not only are the characters following the usual script so far, it seems that some of them do their best to keep the cycle going.

Things like forcing Cucumber to be the hero instead of letting Almond do it because no one ever heard of a little sister saving the world don't make it better.

[Haar]

That 3rd panel is adorable.

A character that qualifies as evil? Glitchmaster comes to mindddddddghjngyrhkvkhtsxhutjezhahahahahaha......

I'd probably say Cordelia and Saturday, but we haven't really seen too much of them I guess.

[-D-]

A world that is trapped in a eternal, vicious cycle of a war between good and evil

First, its hard to say, but the war wasn't vicious so far. Second, I'm not sure who qualifies as evil. It's not NK, and not even Rosemaster, since she was going off a script. Noisemaster just wanted to win. Splashmaster was an idiot, so he can't be truly evil. Which leaves us with Glitchmaster?

Seriously, whos the villain here?

PPG are also in a vicious eternal cycle of violence, they also aren't dark per se.

The world is just too lighthearted to take as dark. And it lacks consequences. We see something horrible about to happen - and it is defused by outside intervention.

The comic is going for lighthearted good ending so hard, it is impossible to not note it.

[memnarch]

...
I'd probably say Cordelia and Saturday, but we haven't really seen too much of them I guess.

Yeah, they seem like the biggest "Evil" people in the comic at the moment, which isn't saying much.

[smuchmuch]

The disaster masters may have personalities that make them more sympathtic to the reader and you may feel sorry for their entrapement in the 'cycle' but that hardly make them nice either.
Noisemaster was going to destroy a major populated city with everyone in it and he sure has hell didn't seem sorry about it. I think that fairly count as 'evil'. And Rosemaster made it pretty clear (The chaos, the destruction) they were into chaos and destruction from the very start. It's not just the repetition of failures driving them to extreme, they seemingly were trapped in it in the first place for a reaon

If Glitchmaster has it her way and breaks the cycle that keep them in check, I doubt they'll use their newfound freedom to deliver flower baskets and sing merry songs, so I think a fair asumption that still makes her fairly good candidate for being a main 'villain' here.

Of course we likely still have quite a few disaster masters to go on so there's still the possibilites of a t-wist or a new parties to be introduced into this.

[super dark33]

Dreamside's 1# Dad

Yeah this might as well be a perpetual reply now.

[-D-]

The disaster masters may have personalities that make them more sympathtic to the reader and you may feel sorry for their entrapement in the 'cycle' but that hardly make them nice either.

Well Mojo Jojo isn't in for handing out baskets of puppies (unless said puppies are infected by deadly pathogens), it still doesn't mean his world is dark.

Setting's darkness depends a huge amount on how gravity of events plays out, and to some extent the level of cynicism of the setting. You can have a dark story about a guy becoming a drug smuggler to help pay his son's meds. Or you can have a light story about guy accidentally murdering everyone and atoning for his misdemeanour (because in his world people get risen from the dead all the time).

[Kantaki]

I admit that „dark” might be a little bit exaggerated, but the point is that Dreamside isn't as cute and fluffy and sweet as it looks at first glance. And that is a good thing because it would be a nightmare otherwise.

The comic is still very family friendly and suitable for children.
(On the other hand I grew up on Grimm’s (and Andersen’s) Fairy-tales, Struwwelpeter and similar stories. My idea of suitable for children might be a wee bit off. When your grandparents live (almost) directly in the dark forest there is nothing better for a good night’s sleep than reading some gruesome tale before going to bed.)

Regarding who is evil: While some of the Disaster Masters certainly qualify I have my doubts about the Nightmare Knight and about Queen Cordelia - at least the former seems to act most of the time and the Queen doesn't show classical evil overlord behaviour either -, but I think the Oracle might be less benevolent than everyone seems to think.
Among the bunny-people Tomato and Cosmo seem to be the ones that are most likely to be on the southern end of the alignment scale. Attacking little kids with pointy sticks and blowing up trains isn't exactly nice. (Unless the kids have the pointy sticks, then it might be acceptable)

[banthesun]

Spoiler: Vague Spoiler for the Latest Comic

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Well, I guess we now know why Gigi was so sassy when people complained about the only trans character being a villian!

[Qwertystop]

Spoiler: Vague Spoiler for the Latest Comic

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Well, I guess we now know why Gigi was so sassy when people complained about the only trans character being a villian!

Nope.

Spoiler

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"apparently male but good at acting in female roles" does not automatically mean "transgender", in either direction.

[Kantaki]

Nope.

Spoiler

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"apparently male but good at acting in female roles" does not automatically mean "transgender", in either direction.

Spoiler

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Bacon is a actor now? I knew that face looked familar. Good for him. Any bets how long this will last until someone ruins it? I think Tomato might try to get his team back.