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

[smuchmuch]

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Well this isn't his first role in drags and it was clear then he had found a calling. Nice to see it seemed to have worked pretty well for him, though.

[Domochevsky]

...I wouldn't even have noticed if NK hadn't pointed out some vague familiarity. "Waitaminute..."

[Domochevsky]

I continue to enjoy the deadpan that the Knightmare Knight brings to this TV show.

(The Most Gorgeous Boy looks bishi, as is proper.)

[Kantaki]

The Nightmare Knight is wise man. Never react to this kind of rant.

[Nettlekid]

I like the little remarks that Peridot, since we know she's attracted to girls, has about the cliche heteronormative plot of a widespread show.

[Kantaki]

Spoiler: new comic

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Peridot gets snarky about her show* and the Nightmare Knight has a flashback to his talk with Princess Parfait or something similar.

I wonder what the Knight is thinking about right now. What is going on in his head and in his pitchblack heart?
It would be nice to learn more about the "villains" history. What was his original reason to attack the Dreamlands? What has changed? Was he actually evil at any point of the whole cycle?
Since I think that the Oracle is the true villain of the story (mostly because she is one of few unlikeable characters) I like the idea of a "good" Nightmare Knight.

*I think she might be right.

[Nettlekid]

What's that on his hand? I can't quite make it out.

[AdmiralCheez]

Zoomed in, it looks like two pieces of candy with smiles that are cuddling each other?

[Syldar]

New comic, and the princess asks a question that every reader has likely had on their minds since, at the latest, the whole "huge purple starry shield" thing.

[Kantaki]

Yes, why does he pretend to be evil(er than he is)? That is a really good question.
And why does he do his best to support the heroes on their quest?

Part of the reason might be that he is just tired of this circle of resurrection and defeat.
But it is possible that the Story (and the Oracle) doesn't tell the whole truth - the fact that the Nightmare Knight has returned several times was supposed a secret for some reason - and he was never the villain he was presented as.
Maybe the roles were originally reversed or he is just his part in some kind of play. Or he is nice to the protagonists because he hopes they can find a (different) solution to the situation.

Even if he is evil that doesn't mean he has to be a cardboard cut-out of a villain. Being evil doesn't prevent hm from being nice.
More importantly, it gives the heroes hope and when this hope is crushed their despair will be even greater - and sweeter.

[Temporal Echo]

Well that was rather interesting. If he is telling the truth then I wonder what this means for the Disaster Masters. It was mentioned that he created them through his power so if he was to lose it all then it would likely kill all of the Disaster Masters in the process.

[Kantaki]

Well, if the problem is that his power source is fear the simple solution would be to change it to something else. Like joy. Lets turn Nightmare Knight into Santa.

I don't think this would be easy, but it would make his destruction unnecessary and mean a end to the cycle.

[Domochevsky]

Hm... so the Disaster Masters' point is to spread fear, not destruction. Can't scare the dead, after all.
I suspect that is also why he stopped the satellite blast in a visible manner right where it mattered.

Interesting.

[Ibrinar]

BUt a destroyed city maks anyone else quite afraid.

Also how often do fictional character alude to the other not naming their real reasons and are wrong? It happens but since she said it I think its likely she is right.

[Kantaki]

BUt a destroyed city maks anyone else quite afraid.

Maybe more people that are less afraid give more power than less people that are more afraid.
Or Nightmare Knight isn't as bad as he tries to appear.
He is sabotaging the Disaster Masters and setting up their - and his - defeat after all.

Also how often do fictional character alude to the other not naming their real reasons and are wrong? It happens but since she said it I think its likely she is right.

As much as I would like it if the Nightmare Knight is honest and really only interested in power I’m relative certain that there is more to it. Especially because I don't trust the Oracle as far as she can see into the future and think she might be the worse one of the two.

[JavaScribe]

How much fear does Nightmare Knight need? Would the fear of the wicked, or opening up a haunted house be good enough? And what about the Nightmare Knight's creations? Would the Disaster Masters and any magic items he creates weaken with him?

Since the Dream Oracle is his counterpart, I would guess she draws power from hope. That might explain how she has supposedly accomplished relatively impressive feats in the past, but seems almost powerless now. She got too lazy and apathetic to inspire anyone, and it might have taken place over a long enough period of time for her to not entirely notice.

[-D-]

I'm gonna call it now. Oracle is nightmare knight's creation.

[Mr.Sandman]

6 new pages up, and without spoiling anything I just have this to say: Wow. That is deep and wonderful storytelling.

[Kantaki]

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Poor Nightmare Knight... He has to play a role that he doesn't want to preserve the lifes of his friends/minions. That explains why he arranges his own defeat. Now I really hope there is a way for him to preserve his power without being a villain. Like taking the role of Dreamland's Santa.

Wait, if the Nightmare Knight sustains the Disaster Masters, isn't Glitch Master's Rebellion doomed to fail?

[Domochevsky]

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...
Wait, if the Nightmare Knight sustains the Disaster Masters, isn't Glitch Master's Rebellion doomed to fail?

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Probably. Unless GMs goal is to end it once and for all. Remove KN entirely, end their own existence instead of going on like this. But I'm not entirely sure GM knows the full extent of this. Maybe he/she/it just sees the "intentionally defeated" part.)

[super dark33]

#1 Dad in Dreamside.

[Qwertystop]

Hm. Wonder if it's possible for him to become feared enough to reforge the DMs as creatures separate from himself? Since he gets power from being feared, and any other limits on his power are broad enough to allow quite a range of things.

Alternately, getting enough fear to change himself to have a different source of power (or a constant base level that doesn't scale on anything, and is enough to sustain the DMs).

Either way, that still leaves the problem that the DMs are rather more enthusiastic about the destroy-everything plan.

[Domochevsky]

...
Either way, that still leaves the problem that the DMs are rather more enthusiastic about the destroy-everything plan.

Are they though? They seem to mostly be doing it for NK, and only secondarily because that's what they were made for.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

Yes Princess, that is a good idea. Lets tell the remaining Disaster Masters the truth about the situation. I'm sure nothing could go wrong with that.

[PhantomFox]

New comic.

Yes Princess, that is a good idea. Lets tell the remaining Disaster Masters the truth about the situation. I'm sure nothing could go wrong with that.

Well, yes, they're going to be upset. The question is whether or not that'd be preferable to stringing them along for all eternity as Charlie Browns trying to kick a football.

[-D-]

Well, yes, they're going to be upset. The question is whether or not that'd be preferable to stringing them along for all eternity as Charlie Browns trying to kick a football.

Will he also casually mention, he's been sabotaging AND chastising them for secretly sabotaging them? Good way to make friends.

[PhantomFox]

Well, if he were to do what the princess is asking, yes. I mean, he's really got two main choices, barring flaws in execution. Keep the cycle going and continue to put them through failure after failure, until the web of lies unravels and they find out ANYWAY (as it is in the process of doing now), or make a full confession, weather the storm of backlash, and try to find a way to reconcile. Is it better to keep secretly hurting his friends over the ages to maintain the status quo, or to hurt them once by confessing and have done with it? Sorta a bandaid removal dilemma, in a sense.


...that said, storytelling says that if he tries this, Glitchmaster will beat him to the punch and make the whole situation blow up in his face.

[Nettlekid]

Will he also casually mention, he's been sabotaging AND chastising them for secretly sabotaging them? Good way to make friends.

I agree with this, that this is the big factor here that makes it difficult for the Nightmare Knight to come forward. Think about his dialogue with Noisemaster. Full of "don't disappoint me" and "do better than Splashmaster" and all that. And Noisemaster worked really hard, to make the Noise Blaster and come up with a plan that really honestly worked. He was taking things very seriously, even if he seemed already to have some skepticism about the Nightmare Knight's words. Noisemaser realized that the Nightmare Knight was the one to stop the Noise Blaster, got sick of dealing with the whole thing, and returned to his Stone form. He was fed up with the Nightmare Knight's hypocrisy. The others are going to be the same way.

[Kantaki]

New comic

Really cute. I'm just not sure what the point of Parfait's drawing is. Is it supposed to be a reminder for Nightmare Knight?
Whatever her reason is, I hope it helps.

[Nettlekid]

New comic

Really cute. I'm just not sure what the point of Parfait's drawing is. Is it supposed to be a reminder for Nightmare Knight?
Whatever her reason is, I hope it helps.

I think that is what it is, just a little memento that he can look at to ground himself. All this that we're seeing with Parfait now is a flashback, because the Nightmare Knight looked at the drawing on his hand to remind himself about friendship as he's watching Punisher Pumice with Peridot.